³ You have seen for yourselves what the Lord did with regard to the Baal of Peor, how the Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor,^(A)

Worship of Baal of Peor

25 While Israel was staying at Shittim, the people began to have sexual relations with the women of Moab.^{(A) 2} These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.^{(B) 3} Thus Israel yoked itself to the Baal of Peor, and the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel.^{(C) 4} The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and impale them in the sun before the Lord, in order that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”^{(D) 5} And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you shall kill any of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”

⁶ Just then one of the Israelites came and brought a Midianite woman into his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the Israelites, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁷ When Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he got up and left the congregation. Taking a spear in his hand,^{(E) 8} he went after the Israelite man into the tent and pierced the two of them, the Israelite and the woman, through the belly. So the plague was stopped among the Israelites. ⁹ Nevertheless those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.^(F)

¹⁷ Have we not had enough of the sin at Peor, from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves and for which a plague came upon the congregation of the Lord,^(A)

¹⁶ These women here, on Balaam’s advice, made the Israelites act treacherously against the Lord in the affair of Peor, so that the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.^(A)

⁶⁴ Among these there was not one of those enrolled by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had enrolled the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai.^(A)