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Numbers 25

The curse Balaam couldn't speak arrives from inside instead. At Shittim the men consort with Moabite women and join the worship of Baal Peor; the LORD's anger burns and a plague breaks out. What no hired seer accomplished, Israel does to itself. The crisis turns on a single violent act: Phinehas the priest spears an Israelite man and his Midianite companion in the tent, and the plague stops — but only after twenty-four thousand have died.

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Numbers 25 (WEB)

1
Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab;
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for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods.
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Israel joined himself to Baal Peor, and the LORD’s anger burned against Israel.
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The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up to the LORD before the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.”
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Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Everyone kill his men who have joined themselves to Baal Peor.”
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Behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
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When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the middle of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand.
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He went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel.
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Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.
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The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
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“Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy.
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Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace.
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It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’”
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Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers’ house among the Simeonites.
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The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur. He was head of the people of a fathers’ house in Midian.
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The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
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“Harass the Midianites, and strike them;
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for they harassed you with their wiles, wherein they have deceived you in the matter of Peor, and in the incident regarding Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor.”

Números 25 (RV1909)

1
Y REPOSÓ Israel en Sittim, y el pueblo empezó á fornicar con las hijas de Moab:
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Las cuales llamaron al pueblo á los sacrificios de sus dioses: y el pueblo comió, é inclinóse á sus dioses.
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Y allegóse el pueblo á Baal-peor; y el furor de Jehová se encendió contra Israel.
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Y Jehová dijo á Moisés: Toma todos los príncipes del pueblo, y ahórcalos á Jehová delante del sol; y la ira del furor de Jehová se apartará de Israel.
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Entonces Moisés dijo á los jueces de Israel: Matad cada uno á aquellos de los suyos que se han allegado á Baal-peor.
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Y he aquí un varón de los hijos de Israel vino y trajo una Madianita á sus hermanos, á ojos de Moisés y de toda la congregación de los hijos de Israel, llorando ellos á la puerta del tabernáculo del testimonio.
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Y viólo Phinees, hijo de Eleazar, hijo de Aarón el sacerdote, y levantóse de en medio de la congregación, y tomó una lanza en su mano:
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Y fué tras el varón de Israel á la tienda, y alanceólos á ambos, al varón de Israel, y á la mujer por su vientre. Y cesó la mortandad de los hijos de Israel.
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Y murieron de aquella mortandad veinte y cuatro mil.
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Entonces Jehová habló á Moisés, diciendo:
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Phinees, hijo de Eleazar, hijo de Aarón el sacerdote, ha hecho tornar mi furor de los hijos de Israel, llevado de celo entre ellos: por lo cual yo no he consumido en mi celo á los hijos de Israel.
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Por tanto di les : He aquí yo establezco mi pacto de paz con él;
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Y tendrá él, y su simiente después de él, el pacto del sacerdocio perpetuo; por cuanto tuvo celo por su Dios, é hizo expiación por los hijos de Israel.
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Y el nombre del varón muerto, que fué muerto con la Madianita, era Zimri hijo de Salu, jefe de una familia de la tribu de Simeón.
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Y el nombre de la mujer Madianita muerta, era Cozbi, hija de Zur, príncipe de pueblos, padre de familia en Madián.
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Y Jehová habló á Moisés, diciendo:
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Hostilizaréis á los Madianitas, y los heriréis:
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Por cuanto ellos os afligieron á vosotros con sus ardides, con que os han engañado en el negocio de Peor, y en el negocio de Cozbi, hija del príncipe de Madián, su hermana, la cual fué muerta el día de la mortandad por causa de Peor.

A covenant of peace, won by a spear

The chapter names its actors precisely: Zimri son of Salu, a Simeonite leader, and Cozbi daughter of Zur, a Midianite chief's daughter. This is no anonymous sin but a public defiance before the Tent of Meeting.

Phinehas receives 'my covenant of peace' and an everlasting priesthood — the reward framing that makes this a founding priestly story and sets up the campaign against Midian to come.

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Forgiveness

In the New Testament, forgiveness is something received from God and then handed on to others. These passages tie the two together so closely that Jesus makes the second the proof of the first.

Peace

In the New Testament peace is less a calm mood than a relationship set right. Jesus hands it over like a gift in John 14:27, and Paul ties it to being justified with God in Romans 5:1.

Wisdom

In Scripture wisdom is less a stockpile of facts than a way of living rightly before God. From Proverbs to James, it begins with the fear of the LORD and shows up in how you treat people and time.

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