25:1¹ When² Israel dwelt in Shittim, the people began to commit fornication³ with the daughters of Moab. 25:2 And these women invited⁴ the people to the sacrifices of their gods; and then the people ate, and bowed down to their gods.⁵ 25:3 So Israel joined themselves to Baal-peor.⁶ And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.

25:4 And the LORD said to Moses, “Arrest all the leaders⁷ of the people, and hang them up⁸ before the LORD in sun,⁹ that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.” 25:5 So Moses said to the judges of Israelites, “Each of you must slay those of his men¹⁰ who were joined to Baal-peor.

25:6 Just then¹¹ one of the Israelites came and brought to his brethren a Midianite woman, before the eyes of Moses, and in the plain view¹² of all the whole community of the Israelites, while they¹³ were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 25:7 When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it,¹⁴ he got up from the midst of the assembly, took a javelin in his hand, 25:8 and went after the Israelite man into the tent¹⁵ and thrust both the Israelite man and the woman through to her belly.¹⁶ So the plague was stopped from the Israelites.¹⁷ 25:9 And those that died in the plague were 24,000.

25:10 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 25:11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the Israelites, when he was zealous with my zeal¹⁸ for my sake among them, that I did not consume the Israelites in my zeal.¹⁹ 25:12 Therefore, announce:²⁰ ‘I am going to give²¹ to him my covenant of peace;²² 25:13 and so it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God,²³ and has made atonement²⁴ for the Israelites.

25:14 Now the name of the Israelite who was stabbed, the one who was stabbed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a leader of a clan of the Simeonites. 25:15 And the name of the Midianite woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur. He was a leader²⁵ over the people of a clan of Midian.²⁶

25:16 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 25:17 “Bring trouble²⁷ to the Midianites, and destroy them, 25:18 because they bring trouble to you by their treachery with which they have deceived²⁸ you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian,²⁹ their sister, who was slain in the day of the plague for Peor’s sake.