1Israel stayed at Shittim, and the people began to commit sexual sin with the daughters of Moab.
2The women invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate, and they bowed down to their gods.
3So Israel joined himself to Baal-peor, and the anger of the LORD burned against Israel.
4The LORD said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people, and hang them up before the LORD in the open sunlight, so that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel."
5So Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you must kill his men who joined themselves to Baal-peor."
6Look, one of the children of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his brothers. He did it in front of Moses and in front of the whole congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the tent of meeting.
7When Phinehas saw it, he got up from among the congregation and took a spear in his hand. Phinehas was the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest.
8He followed the man of Israel into the tent, and he drove the spear through both of them, through the man of Israel and through the woman's belly. So the plague among the children of Israel was stopped.
9Those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.
10The LORD spoke to Moses. He said,
11"Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger away from the children of Israel. He was zealous for my sake among them, so I did not destroy the children of Israel in my jealousy."
12So say this: Look, I give him my covenant of peace.
13"It will belong to him, and to his descendants after him. It is the covenant of a priesthood that lasts for ever, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the children of Israel."
14The name of the Israelite who was killed, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu. He was a leader of a chief family among the Simeonites.
15The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur. Zur was head over a people, and of a chief family in Midian.
16The LORD spoke to Moses. He said,
17"Treat the Midianites as enemies, and strike them down."
18"For they treat you as enemies with their tricks. They tricked you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague that came because of Peor."