Numbers 25

₁While the Israelites were camped at Acacia, some of the men had sex with Moabite women. ₂These women then invited the men to ceremonies where sacrifices were offered to their gods. The men ate the meat from the sacrifices and worshipped the Moabite gods.

₃The LORD was angry with Israel because they had worshipped the god Baal-Peor. ₄So he said to Moses, “Take the Israelite leaders who are responsible for this and have them killed in front of my sacred tent where everyone can see. Perhaps then I will stop being angry with the Israelites.”

₅Moses told Israel's officials, “Each of you must put to death any of your men who worshipped Baal.”

₆Later, Moses and the people were at the sacred tent, crying, when one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman to meet his family. ₇Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron the priest, saw the couple and left the crowd. He found a spear ₈and followed the man into his tent, where he ran the spear through the man and into the woman's stomach. The LORD immediately stopped punishing Israel with a deadly disease, ₉but twenty-four thousand Israelites had already died.

₁₀The LORD said to Moses, ₁₁“In my anger, I would have wiped out the Israelites if Phinehas had not been faithful to me. _12-13But instead of punishing them, I forgave them. So because of the loyalty that Phinehas showed, I solemnly promise that he and his descendants will always be my priests.”

₁₄The Israelite man that was killed was Zimri son of Salu, who was one of the leaders of the Simeon tribe. ₁₅And the Midianite woman killed with him was Cozbi, the daughter of a Midianite clan leader named Zur.

₁₆The LORD told Moses, _17-18“The Midianites are now enemies of Israel, so attack and defeat them! They tricked the people of Israel into worshipping their god at Peor, and they are responsible for the death of Cozbi, the daughter of one of their own leaders.”