25Numbers 25

The People of Israel at Peor

1When the Israelites were camped at Acacia Valley, the men began to have sexual intercourse with the Moabite women who were there.Select Numbers 25:1

2These women invited them to sacrificial feasts, where the god of Moab was worshiped. The Israelites ate the food and worshiped the godSelect Numbers 25:2

3Baal of Peor. So the Lord was angry with themSelect Numbers 25:3

4and said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of Israel and, in obedience to me, execute them in broad daylight, and then I will no longer be angry with the people.”Select Numbers 25:4

5Moses said to the officials, “Each of you is to kill every man in your tribe who has become a worshiper of Baal of Peor.”Select Numbers 25:5

6One of the Israelites took a Midianite woman into his tent in the sight of Moses and the whole community, while they were mourning at the entrance of the Tent of the Lord's presence.Select Numbers 25:6

7When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest, saw this, he got up and left the assembly. He took a spear,Select Numbers 25:7

8followed the man and the woman into the tent, and drove the spear through both of them. In this way the epidemic that was destroying Israel was stopped,Select Numbers 25:8

9but it had already killed twenty-four thousand people.Select Numbers 25:9

10The Lord said to Moses,Select Numbers 25:10

11“Because of what Phinehas has done, I am no longer angry with the people of Israel. He refused to tolerate the worship of any god but me, and that is why I did not destroy them in my anger.Select Numbers 25:11

12So tell him that I am making a covenant with him that is valid for all time to come.Select Numbers 25:12

13He and his descendants are permanently established as priests, because he did not tolerate any rivals to me and brought about forgiveness for the people's sin.”Select Numbers 25:13

14The name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the head of a family in the tribe of Simeon.Select Numbers 25:14

15The woman's name was Cozbi. Zur, her father, was chief of a group of Midianite clans.Select Numbers 25:15

16The Lord commanded Moses,Select Numbers 25:16

17“Attack the Midianites and destroy them,Select Numbers 25:17

18because of the evil they did to you when they deceived you at Peor, and because of Cozbi, who was killed at the time of the epidemic at Peor.”Select Numbers 25:18