Moab Seduces Israel

1And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab.

2And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.

3And Israel joined itself unto Baal of Peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.

4And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD in the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.

5And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay you every one his men that were joined unto Baal of Peor.

The Zeal of Phinehas

6And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

7And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;

8And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.

9And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.

10And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

11Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, because he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.

12Therefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:

13And he shall have it, and his descendants after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.

14Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a head of a fathers' house among the Simeonites.

15And the name of the Midianite woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and a father's house in Midian.

16And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

17Harass the Midianites, and smite them:

18For they harassed you with their wiles, with which they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister, who was slain in the day of the plague on account of Peor.