1And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit incest with the daughters of Moab.
2And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed themselves down to their gods.
3And Israel joined themselves unto Baal-peor; and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
4And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and [cause them to] hang the [guilty] up before the Lord, in the face of the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.
5And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that have been joined unto Baal-peor.
6And, behold, one of the children of Israel came, and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman, before the eyes of Moses, and before the eyes of all the congregation of the children of Israel, and these were weeping by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
7And when Phinehas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;
8And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body: and the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
9And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
10And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
11Phinehas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel, while he was zealous in my stead in the midst of them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my indignation.
12Therefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace;
13And it shall be unto him and unto his seed after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.
14Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Sahlu, a prince of a family division among the Simeonites.
15And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head of tribes, of a family division in Midian.
16And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
17Attack the Midianites and smite them;
18For they are enemies unto you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague for the sake of Peor.