Numbers 25
International Children’s Bible
Israel at Peor
25 The people of Israel were still camped at Acacia. The men began sinning sexually with Moabite women. 2 The women invited them to their sacrifices to their false gods. The Israelites ate food there and worshiped these gods. 3 So the Israelites began to worship Baal of Peor. And the Lord was very angry with them.
4 The Lord said to Moses, “Get all the leaders of the people. Then kill them in open daylight in the presence of the Lord. Then the Lord will not be angry with the people of Israel.”
5 So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death your men who have become worshipers of Baal of Peor.”
6 Moses and the Israelites were gathered at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. They were crying there. Then an Israelite man brought a Midianite woman to his brothers. This was in plain sight of Moses and all the people. 7 Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this. So he left the meeting and got his spear. 8 He followed the Israelite into his tent. And he drove his spear through both the Israelite man and the Midianite woman. Then the terrible sickness among the Israelites stopped.
9 This sickness had killed 24,000 people.
10 The Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has saved the Israelites from my anger. He is like I am in his concern for the people. He tried to save my honor among them. So I will not kill them. 12 So tell Phinehas that I am making my peace agreement with him. 13 He and all his descendants will have an agreement. They will always be priests. This is because he had great concern for the honor of his God. He removed the sins of the Israelites so they would belong to God.”
14 The Israelite man who was killed with the Midianite woman was named Zimri son of Salu. He was the leader of a family in the tribe of Simeon. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was put to death was Cozbi daughter of Zur. Zur was the chief of a Midianite family.
16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 “The Midianites are your enemies. You should kill them. 18 They have already made you their enemies. They tricked you at Peor. Then there was Cozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader. She was the woman who was killed when the sickness came. It came because the people were worshiping the false god at Peor.”
Numbers 25
Legacy Standard Bible
Israel Sacrifices to Baal
25 And Israel remained at (A)Shittim, and the people began (B)to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. 2 Indeed (C)they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So (D)Israel joined themselves to [a]Baal of Peor, and the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel. 4 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Take all who are the heads of the people and execute them [b]in broad daylight before Yahweh, (E)so that the burning anger of Yahweh may turn away from Israel.” 5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you (F)kill his men who have joined themselves to [c]Baal of Peor.”
6 Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought near to his brothers a (G)Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, (H)while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 7 (I)And Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, so he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand, 8 and he went after the man of Israel into the [d]tent and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the [e]body. (J)Then the plague on the sons of Israel was checked. 9 (K)So those who died by the plague were 24,000.
The Jealousy of Phinehas
10 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 11 “(L)Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the sons of Israel (M)in My jealousy. 12 Therefore say, ‘(N)Behold, I give him My (O)covenant of peace; 13 and it shall be for him and his seed after him, a covenant of a (P)perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and (Q)made atonement for the sons of Israel.’”
14 Now the name of the [f]slain man of Israel who was [g]slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s household among the Simeonites. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman, who was struck down, was (R)Cozbi the daughter of (S)Zur, [h]who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian.
16 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “(T)Be hostile to the Midianites and strike them, 18 for they have been hostile to you with their deceptive tricks, with which they have deceived you in the affair of Peor and in the affair of Cozbi, the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was slain on the day of the plague because of Peor.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 25:3 Or Baal-peor
- Numbers 25:4 Lit in front of the sun
- Numbers 25:5 Or Baal-peor
- Numbers 25:8 Or inner rooms
- Numbers 25:8 Or belly
- Numbers 25:14 Lit smitten
- Numbers 25:14 Lit smitten
- Numbers 25:15 Lit he
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