1
Soothly in that time Israel dwelled in Shittim (And so the Israelites lived in Shittim); and the people did fornication with the daughters of Moab;
2
which daughters called them to their sacrifices, and they ate (the sacrificial food), and worshipped the gods of those daughters;
3
and Israel made sacrifice to Baalpeor. And the Lord was wroth, (and the Israelites sacrificed to Baal of Peor. And the Lord was angry against them,)
4
and said to Moses, Take thou all the princes of the people, and hang them against the sun in gibbets, that my strong vengeance be turned away from Israel. (and said to Moses, Take thou all the leaders of the people, and hang them up on gallows out in the sun, so that my strong vengeance be turned away from Israel.)
5
And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Each man slay his neighbours, that made sacrifice to Baalpeor. (And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Each one of you kill his neighbours, yea, they who sacrificed to Baal of Peor.)
6
And lo! one of the sons of Israel entered before his brethren to an whore of Midian, in the sight of Moses, and of all the company of the sons of Israel, which wept before the gates of the tabernacle. (And lo! one of the Israelites brought a woman of Midian into his tent, in the sight of Moses, and all the congregation of the Israelites, who were mourning at the entrance to the Tabernacle.)
7
And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, had seen this unshamefast doing (had seen this shameful thing), he rose (up) from the midst of the multitude; and when he had taken a sword,
8
he entered after the man of Israel into the whorehouse, and sticked through both together, that is, the man and the woman, in the places of engendering. And the vengeance ceased from the sons of Israel, (he went into that bawdy house, after the man of Israel, and stuck his sword through both of them together, that is, the man and the woman, in their places of begetting. And so the plague that had attacked the Israelites was stopped,)
9
and four and twenty thousand of men were slain. (but by then, twenty-four thousand people had already died.)
10
And the Lord said to Moses,