1 Nowe whiles Israel abode in Shittim, the people began to commit whoredome with the daughters of Moab: 2 Which called the people vnto the sacrifice of their gods, and the people ate, and bowed downe to their gods. 3 And Israel coupled himselfe vnto Baal Peor: wherefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel: 4 And the Lord sayde vnto Moses, Take all the heades of the people, and hang them vp before the Lord against ye sunne, that the indignation of the Lords wrath may be turned from Israel. 5 Then Moses sayd vnto the Iudges of Israel, Euery one slay his men that were ioyned vnto Baal Peor. 6 And behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought vnto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the Congregation of the children of Israel, who wept before the doore of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. 7 And when Phinehas the sonne of Eleazar the sonne of Aaron the Priest sawe it, hee rose vp from the middes of the Congregation, and tooke a speare in his hand, 8 And followed ye man of Israel into the tent, and thrust them both through: to wit, the man of Israel, and the woman, through her belly: so the plague ceased from the children of Israel. 9 And there died in that plague, foure and twentie thousand. 10 Then the Lord spake vnto Moses, saying, 11 Phinehas the sonne of Eleazar, the sonne of Aaron the Priest, hath turned mine anger away from the children of Israel, while hee was zealous for my sake among them: therefore I haue not consumed the children of Israel in my ielousie. 12 Wherefore say to him, Beholde, I giue vnto him my couenant of peace, 13 And he shall haue it, and his seede after him, euen the couenant of the priestes office for euer, because he was zealous for his God, and hath made an atonement for the children of Israel. 14 And the name of the Israelite thus slayne, which was killed with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri the sonne of Salu, prince of the familie of the Simeonites. 15 And the name of the Midianitish woman, that was slayne, was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was head ouer the people of his fathers house in Midian. 16 Againe ye Lord spake vnto Moses, saying, 17 Vexe the Midianites, and smite them: 18 For they trouble you with their wiles, wherewith they haue beguiled you as concerning Peor, and as concerning their sister Cozbi ye daughter of a prince of Midian, which was slayne in the day of the plague because of Peor.
The People of Israel at Peor
1 When the Israelites were camped at Acacia Valley, the men began to have sexual intercourse with the Moabite women who were there. 2 These women invited them to sacrificial feasts, where the god of Moab was worshiped. The Israelites ate the food and worshiped the god 3 Baal of Peor. So the Lord was angry with them 4 and 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.” 5 Moses said to the officials, “Each of you is to kill every man in your tribe who has become a worshiper of Baal of Peor.”
6 One 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. 7 When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest, saw this, he got up and left the assembly. He took a spear, 8 followed 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, 9 but it had already killed twenty-four thousand people.
10 The Lord said to Moses, 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. 12 So tell him that I am making a covenant with him that is valid for all time to come. 13 He 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.”
14 The 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. 15 The woman's name was Cozbi. Zur, her father, was chief of a group of Midianite clans.
16 The Lord commanded Moses, 17 “Attack the Midianites and destroy them, 18 because 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.”