Numbers 25 Cross References - ISV

¹ Worship of Baal of PeorWhile Israel remained encamped in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality with Moabite women, ² who also invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods. So the people ate what they had sacrificed and then worshipped their gods. ³ The people joined the Baal-peor cult. As a result, the anger of the LORD flared up against Israel, ⁴ so the LORD told Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight for the LORD, so the LORD’s burning anger may be withdrawn from Israel.”
⁵ Then Moses ordered the judges of Israel, “Each one of you is to execute the men in his own tribe who joined the Baal-peor cult.”
⁶ That very moment, one of the Israelis arrived, bringing to his brothers one of the Midianite women, right in front of Moses and the entire community of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting! ⁷ When Eleazar’s son Phinehas, grandson of Aaron the priest saw this, he jumped up from the middle of the community, grabbed a javelin in his hand, ⁸ followed the Israeli man inside his tent, and impaled the two of them—the Israeli man and the woman—right through both of them and into her abdomen. Then the plague infecting the Israelis was brought to a halt. Nevertheless, ⁹ 24,000 people died because of the plague.
¹⁰ God Commends PhinehasThe LORD told Moses, ¹¹ “Eleazar’s son Phinehas, grandson of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from Israel. Because his zealousness reflected my own zeal for them, I didn’t consume Israel in my jealousy. ¹² Therefore, I’m certainly going to be giving him my covenant of peace, ¹³ for him and for his descendants after him, too, a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelis.”
¹⁴ Now the name of the Israeli man who was slain, along with the Midianite woman, was Salu’s son Zimri, a leader from the tribe of Simeon. ¹⁵ The woman who was slain, that is, the Midianite woman, was named Cozbi. She was the daughter of Zur, a leader of one of the ancestral houses of Midian.
¹⁶ God Orders the Destruction of MidianLater, the LORD ordered Moses, ¹⁷ “Attack the Midianites and execute them, ¹⁸ because they’ve acted deceitfully, bringing trouble to you in this incident at Peor with Cozbi, daughter of a prince from Midian, who was killed during the plague that came about because of the incident at Peor.”

¹⁵ “Did you keep all the women alive?” Moses asked them. ¹⁶ “Look! These women were the same ones who were counseled by Balaam to cause the Israelis to commit a grievous sin against the LORD at Peor. As a result, that plague infected the LORD’s community.

⁴⁹ They rested by the Jordan River in the area from Beth-jeshimoth to Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.

¹ Rahab Receives Two ScoutsAfter this, Nun’s son Joshua sent two men from the Acacia groves as undercover scouts. He told them, “Go and look over the land. Pay special attention to Jericho.” So they went out, came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and lodged there.

¹ Joshua Prepares to Conquer JerichoJoshua got up early the next morning. Accompanied by all the Israelis, he set out from the Acacia groves and arrived at the Jordan River, where they encamped before crossing it.

²⁶ I discovered for myself a bitterness that surpasses that of death: the woman whose heart is full of snares and nets, whose hands are chains of bondage. Whoever pleases God will escape from her, but the transgressor will be trapped by her.

⁵ “My people, recall how king Balak of Moab deliberated, and how Beor’s son Balaam counseled him from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may know the righteousness of the LORD.”

⁸ Let’s stop sinning sexually, as some of them were doing, and on a single day 23,000 fell dead.

¹⁴ But I have a few things against you: You have there some who hold to the teaching of Balaam, the one who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice immorality.

⁵ You are not to bow down to them in worship or serve them, because I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the iniquity of the parents to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,

²⁴ You are not to bow down to their gods or serve them. You are not to follow their practices, but you are to overthrow them completely and smash their sacred stones to pieces.

¹⁵ Otherwise, you may make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and when they prostitute themselves with their gods and offer sacrifices to their gods, someone may invite you and then you may eat some of their sacrifices.
¹⁶ “You are not to take any of their daughters for your sons. Otherwise, when their daughters prostitute themselves with their gods, they may cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods.

³⁸ Who ate the fat of their offerings and drank the wine that was their drink offering? Let them rise and help you and be your hiding place!’

¹⁷ Isn’t the evil that happened at Peor enough for us, from which we have yet to be completely cleansed even to this point, and because of which a plague came upon the community of the LORD?

⁷ That way, you will not mingle with those nations that remain among you, nor mention the name of their gods, nor make oaths by them, nor serve them, nor worship them.

¹⁶ When you break the covenant of the LORD your God that he commanded you to obey by going to serve other gods and worship them, then the anger of the LORD will blaze against you, and you will perish quickly from this good land that he gave you.”

¹ Solomon’s Forbidden Marriages and Idolatry
But King Solomon married many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh: women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidonia, along with Hittite women, too, ² all of them from nations that the LORD had ordered the Israelis, “You are not to associate with them and they are not to associate with you, because they will most certainly turn your affections away to follow their gods.” Solomon became deeply attached to them by falling in love. ³ He had 700 princess wives and 300 mistresses who turned his heart away from the LORD, ⁴ because as Solomon grew older, his wives turned his affections away after other gods, and his heart was not fully as devoted to the LORD his God as his father David’s heart had been. ⁵ Solomon pursued Astarte, the Sidonian goddess, and Milcom, that detestable Ammonite idol. ⁶ Solomon practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by not fully following the LORD, as had his father David. ⁷ Later, Solomon even constructed a high place on the mountain east of Jerusalem that was dedicated to Chemosh, that detestable Moabite idol, and to Molech, the detestable Ammonite idol. ⁸ Solomon did this for all of his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their own gods.

¹⁸ Nevertheless, I’ve reserved 7,000 in Israel who have neither bowed their knees to Baal nor kissed him.”

²⁸ For they adopted the worship of Baal Peor and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.

¹⁰ “I found Israel, as one finds grapes in the wilderness; Your ancestors seemed to me like the fruit gleaned from a fig tree’s first harvest. When they went to Baal-peor, they devoted themselves to that filth, and they became loathsome, like what they loved.

²⁰ Hardly! What they offer, they offer to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to become partners with demons.

²⁷ If an unbeliever invites you to his house and you wish to go, eat whatever is set before you, raising no question on the grounds of conscience. ²⁸ However, if someone says to you, “This was offered as a sacrifice,” don’t eat it, both out of consideration for the one who told you and also for the sake of conscience.

¹⁶ What agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: “I will live and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” ¹⁷ Therefore, “Get away from them and separate yourselves from them,” declares the Lord, “and don’t touch anything unclean. Then I will welcome you.

⁵ Then Moses ordered the judges of Israel, “Each one of you is to execute the men in his own tribe who joined the Baal-peor cult.”

³ You saw with your own eyes what he did in Baal Peor. The LORD your God exterminated from among you every man who followed Baal of Peor. ⁴ But all of you who are clinging to the LORD your God are alive today.

¹⁴ So in his burning anger against Israel, the LORD gave them into the domination of marauders who plundered them. The enemies who surrounded the Israelis controlled them, and they were no longer able to withstand their adversaries.

²⁰ In his burning anger against Israel, the LORD said, “Because the people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors to keep, and because they haven’t obeyed me,

¹¹ Who can know the intensity of your anger? Because our fear of you matches your wrath,

²⁸ For they adopted the worship of Baal Peor and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. ²⁹ They had provoked anger by their deeds, so that a plague broke out against them.

⁴ You will let go of your inheritance which I gave you, and I’ll make you serve your enemies in a land that you don’t know. For with my anger you have started a fire that will burn forever.

²⁵ Moses chose capable men from all Israel and appointed them as heads over the people, as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

¹¹ “Eleazar’s son Phinehas, grandson of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from Israel. Because his zealousness reflected my own zeal for them, I didn’t consume Israel in my jealousy.

¹⁴ Now the name of the Israeli man who was slain, along with the Midianite woman, was Salu’s son Zimri, a leader from the tribe of Simeon. ¹⁵ The woman who was slain, that is, the Midianite woman, was named Cozbi. She was the daughter of Zur, a leader of one of the ancestral houses of Midian.

¹⁸ because they’ve acted deceitfully, bringing trouble to you in this incident at Peor with Cozbi, daughter of a prince from Midian, who was killed during the plague that came about because of the incident at Peor.”

³ You saw with your own eyes what he did in Baal Peor. The LORD your God exterminated from among you every man who followed Baal of Peor.

⁶ Dealing with Idolaters“Your own blood brother, your son, your daughter, your beloved wife, or your friend who is like your soul mate may entice you quietly. He may tell you, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods,’ (whom neither you nor your ancestors have known ⁷ from the gods of the people that surround you—whether near or far from you—from one end of the earth to the other). ⁸ You must not yield to him, listen to him, look with pity on him, show compassion to him, or even cover up for him. ⁹ But you must surely execute him. You must be the first to put him to death with your own hand, and then the hands of the whole community.

¹³ that worthless men have come from among you to entice those who live in the towns. They may say, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods that you haven’t known.’

¹⁵ then put the inhabitants of the town to death by the sword. Devote everything in it to divine destruction—even its livestock—by the sword.

¹⁷ Moreover, you must never take any item from those condemned things, so the LORD may yet relent from his burning anger and extend compassion, have mercy, and cause you to increase in number—as he promised by an oath to your ancestors—

²³ his body must not remain overnight on the tree. You must bury him that same day, because cursed of God is the one who has been hanged on a tree. Don’t defile your land that the LORD is about to give you as your inheritance.”

²⁵ Joshua announced, “Why did you bring trouble to us? Today the LORD is bringing trouble to you!” So all Israel stoned him to death, incinerated them, and buried them with stones, ²⁶ piling up a large mound of boulders that remains to this day. After this, the LORD turned his burning anger away, and that is why that place is called “the Valley of Achor” to this day.

² Joshua called together all Israel, including their leaders, officials, judges, and tribal officers. He told them, “I am old now after having lived many years.

⁶ is to have seven of his sons turned over to us. We will hang them in the presence of the LORD at Gibeah, which belonged to Saul, whom the LORD chose.”
So the king answered, “I will give them.”

⁹ Then he turned them over to the custody of the Gibeonites, who hanged them on the mountain in the presence of the LORD. All seven of them died at the same time. They were executed during the first days of harvest, just as the barley began to be gathered in.

⁹ Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, observed, “Look there! A pole is standing 50 cubits high at Haman’s house that he prepared for Mordecai, whose report benefitted the king!”
The king said, “Hang him on it.” ¹⁰ So they hanged Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai, and then the king’s anger subsided.

³ You withdrew all your wrath and turned away from your burning anger. ⁴ Restore us, God of our salvation, and stop being angry with us.

⁹ Who knows but that God may relent, have compassion, and turn from his fierce anger, so that we are not exterminated?”

²¹ You are to look for capable men among the people, men who fear God, men of integrity who hate dishonest gain. You are to set these men over them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

²⁵ Moses chose capable men from all Israel and appointed them as heads over the people, as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. ²⁶ They judged the people at all times; the difficult matters they brought to Moses, but every minor matter they judged.

²⁰ “Anyone who sacrifices to a god, except the LORD alone, is to be utterly destroyed.

²⁷ He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and each of you kill his brother and friend and neighbor.’”
²⁸ The descendants of Levi did just as Moses told them, and about 3,000 people died that day.

⁶ Dealing with Idolaters“Your own blood brother, your son, your daughter, your beloved wife, or your friend who is like your soul mate may entice you quietly. He may tell you, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods,’ (whom neither you nor your ancestors have known

⁹ But you must surely execute him. You must be the first to put him to death with your own hand, and then the hands of the whole community.

³ He may be following and serving other gods by bowing down to them—that is, to the sun, the moon, or to any of the heavenly host (something I did not command). ⁴ When it is reported to you or you hear of it, then investigate it thoroughly. When the truth has been established that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, ⁵ summon the man or the woman who did this evil thing to your city gates. Then stone the man or the woman to death.

⁴⁰ But Elijah said, “Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don’t let even one of them get away.” So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there.

³⁰ On Willful Sin“But if some person acts with a high hand, whether a native-born or a resident alien, he blasphemes God, and that person is to be eliminated from among his people. ³¹ Because he has despised the law of the LORD and has broken his commands, that person is certainly to be eliminated. His iniquity will remain on him.”

⁴ the Moabites told the elders of Midian, “This horde of people is about to lick up everything around us, like an ox licks up the green ground.”
At that time, Zippor’s son Balak was the king of Moab.

² “Be sure to exact vengeance on behalf of the Israelis from the Midianites, after which you’ll be taken home to your people.”

⁹ After this, the Israelis took captive the Midianite women and children and confiscated as spoils of war all their cattle, livestock, and their goods. ¹⁰ They burned every town where they had lived and incinerated all of their encampments. ¹¹ They took all the booty and plunder, including both humans and animals. ¹² Then they brought the captives, booty, and plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the entire community of Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan River in Jericho. ¹³ Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp.
¹⁴ Commands Concerning War CaptivesBut Moses became livid with anger at the officers of the army, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds who had returned from servicing in the battle.

¹⁹ because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he will bless himself and say: ‘I will have a peaceful life, even though I’m determined to be stubborn.’ By doing this he will be sweeping away both watered and parched ground alike.’
²⁰ “The LORD won’t forgive such a person. Instead, the zealous anger of the LORD will blaze against him. All the curses that were written in this book will fall on him. Then the LORD will wipe out his memory from under heaven. ²¹ The LORD will set him apart from all the tribes of Israel for destruction, according to the curses of the covenant that were written in this Book of the Law.”

⁴ Because the angel of the LORD said these things to all of the Israelis, the people wept out loud,

¹ Ezra’s Reaction to Foreign Marriages
After these things occurred, certain officials approached me and said “The people of Israel, the priests, and the descendants of Levi have not separated themselves from the people of the lands or from the detestable behavior of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites, ² because they and their sons have married foreign women. As a result, the holy people have mingled themselves among the peoples of these lands. As a matter of fact, the senior officials and the rulers have been foremost in this sin.”
³ When I heard this, I tore both my garment and robe, plucked hair from both my head and my beard, and collapsed in shock! ⁴ Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered together as a group because of the sin committed by those who had been led astray. As for me, I remained seated, in shock, until the evening sacrifice.

⁶ Ezra arose in front of the Temple of God to visit the apartment of Eliashib’s son Jehohanan. While there, he neither ate nor drank because he was in mourning over the sins of those who had returned from exile. ⁷ Then they sent word throughout Judah and Jerusalem to everyone who had returned from the exile, to gather together in Jerusalem. ⁸ Whoever would not come within three days would forfeit his assets and be separated from the community of the returning exiles, just as the high officials and elders had advised.
⁹ Less than three days later, all of the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered together on the twentieth day of the ninth month. Everyone sat in the plaza of the Temple of God, trembling because of everything that was happening, and also because it was raining heavily.

¹² On that day the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies called for weeping and mourning, for shaving heads and wearing sackcloth.

³ This is why the rain has been withheld and there are no spring showers. Yet you have a harlot’s look and you refuse to be ashamed.

¹² Are they ashamed because they have done what is repugnant to God? They weren’t ashamed at all; they don’t even know how to blush! Therefore they’ll fall with those who fall. When I punish them, they’ll be brought down,” says the LORD.

²³ As Jehudi would read three or four columns, the king would cut it with a scribe’s knife and throw it into the fire which was in the stove, until all the scroll was burned in the fire in the stove.

¹⁵ then hear this message from the LORD, remnant of Judah: ‘This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: “If you are really determined to go into Egypt, and you go there to settle, ¹⁶ the sword that you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt. The famine that you dread will pursue you into Egypt, and there you will die. ¹⁷ All the people who are determined to go into Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, by famine, and by the plague. No one will survive the disaster that I’ll bring on them.” ¹⁸ For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. You will be a curse and an object of horror, ridicule, and scorn, and you will never again see this place.’

⁴ So Kareah’s son Johanan, all the military leaders, and all the people did not obey the instructions given by the LORD to remain in the land of Judah. ⁵ Kareah’s son Johanan and all the military leaders took the entire remnant of Judah that had returned from all the nations where they had been scattered to settle in the land of Judah— ⁶ the young men, the women, the children, the daughters of the king, and everyone whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Ahikam’s son Gedaliah, the grandson of Shaphan, along with Jeremiah the prophet and Neriah’s son Baruch. ⁷ So they went into the land of Egypt, because they did not obey the LORD, and they travelled as far as Tahpanhes.

¹⁶ “As for the message that you reported to us in the name of the LORD, we won’t listen to you! ¹⁷ Rather, we will keep doing everything that we said we would by offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and by pouring out liquid offerings to her just as we, our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders did in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of bread, things went well for us, and we didn’t experience disaster.

⁴ The LORD told him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of everyone who sighs and moans over all of the loathsome things that are happening in it.”
⁵ As I continued to listen, he also told the others, “Follow him through the city and start killing. Don’t spare anyone you see, and don’t show pity of any kind. ⁶ You are to execute old men, young men, young women, little children, and women. But don’t touch anyone who has been marked. Begin at my Holy Place!” And so they started with the elders who were in standing in front of the Temple.

¹⁷ As they serve between the porch and the altar, let the priests and ministers of the LORD weep and pray: ‘Spare your people, LORD, and do not make your heritage a disgrace so that nations ridicule them. Why should they say among the people, “Where is their God?”’”

¹³ suffering harm as punishment for their wrongdoing. They take pleasure in wild parties in broad daylight. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceitful pleasures while they eat with you. ¹⁴ With eyes full of adultery, they cannot get enough of sin. They seduce unsteady souls and have had their hearts expertly trained in greed. They are doomed to a curse. ¹⁵ They have left the straight path and wandered off to follow the path of Bosor’s son Balaam, who loved the reward he got for doing wrong.

¹³ They are wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their own shame. They are wandering stars for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved forever.

²⁵ Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of Putiel’s daughters, and she bore him Phineas. These are the heads of the ancestors of the descendants of Levi, according to their families.

³⁰ When Phinehas the priest, the leaders of the community, and the heads of the families of Israel who were with him heard what the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the descendants of Manasseh said, they were pleased. ³¹ So Eleazar’s son Phinehas the priest replied to the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the descendants of Manasseh, “Today we’ve demonstrated that the LORD is among us, because you have not acted treacherously against the LORD. Now you have delivered the Israelis from the anger of the LORD.”

²⁸ while Eleazar’s son Phinehas, a descendant of Aaron, served before it in those days. They asked, “Should we go out to war again against the descendants of our relative Benjamin, or shall we cease?”
And the LORD answered, “Go out, and tomorrow I will deliver them into your control.”

¹⁰ The next day, while David was playing the lyre as he had before, the evil spirit from the LORD attacked Saul, and he began to rave inside the house with a spear in his hand. ¹¹ Saul hurled it, thinking, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David escaped from him twice.

⁹ The evil spirit from the LORD attacked Saul while he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand and David was playing the lyre.

³⁰ But Phinehas intervened and prayed so that the plague was restrained.

⁴⁶ Then Moses told Aaron. “Take the censer, put fire on it from the altar, and burn some incense. Then walk quickly to the congregation and atone for them, because wrath has already come out from the LORD—the plague has begun.”
⁴⁷ So Aaron took the censer, just as Moses had spoken, and ran out to the center of the assembly, where a plague had begun among the people. He set the incense on fire and atoned for the people. ⁴⁸ He stood between the dead and the living and restrained the plague.

²⁵ built an altar to the LORD there, and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD answered David’s prayers for the land and the pestilence on Israel was averted.

²² David told Ornan, “Give me the threshing floor as a site to build an altar to the LORD on it. Give it to me at its full price, so the plague may be averted from the people.”

²⁹ They had provoked anger by their deeds, so that a plague broke out against them. ³⁰ But Phinehas intervened and prayed so that the plague was restrained. ³¹ And it was credited to him as a righteous act, from generation to generation—to eternity.

³⁷ and who produced an evil report about the land, died of pestilence in the LORD’s presence.

⁴⁹ Those who died due to the plague numbered 14,700, not counting those who died due to the matter with Korah.
⁵⁰ Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting after the slaughter had been restrained.

⁴ so the LORD told Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight for the LORD, so the LORD’s burning anger may be withdrawn from Israel.”
⁵ Then Moses ordered the judges of Israel, “Each one of you is to execute the men in his own tribe who joined the Baal-peor cult.”

¹⁶ “Look! These women were the same ones who were counseled by Balaam to cause the Israelis to commit a grievous sin against the LORD at Peor. As a result, that plague infected the LORD’s community.

⁵ “When a man lets a field or vineyard be grazed over or releases his livestock so that they graze in another man’s field, he is to make restitution from the best of his field or vineyard.

¹⁴ indeed, you are not to bow down in worship to any other god, because the LORD’s name is Jealous—he’s a jealous God—

²⁴ Indeed, the LORD your God is a consuming fire. He is a jealous God.”

²⁰ “The LORD won’t forgive such a person. Instead, the zealous anger of the LORD will blaze against him. All the curses that were written in this book will fall on him. Then the LORD will wipe out his memory from under heaven.

¹⁶ They provoked him to jealousy over foreigners and to anger over detestable things.

²¹ They provoked me to jealousy over non-gods, and to be angry over their vanity. Now I’ll provoke them to jealousy over a non-people; and over a foolish nation I’ll provoke them to anger.

¹⁹ So Joshua told the people, “You will not be able to serve the LORD, because he is a God of Holiness. He is a jealous God, and he will forgive neither your transgressions nor your sins.

¹⁴ and they buried Saul’s bones and his son Jonathan’s bones in the territory of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. After they had done everything that the king commanded, God responded to prayers for the land.

²² Judah practiced what the LORD considered to be evil. They did more to provoke him to jealousy than their ancestors had ever done by committing the sins that they committed.

⁵⁸ they angered him with their high places and with their carved images they made him jealous.

²³ He would have destroyed them but for Moses, his chosen one, who stood in the breach before him to avert his destructive wrath.

³⁸ I’ll judge you with the same standards by which I issue verdicts against a woman who commits adultery and murder. I’ll avenge the blood you’ve shed with impassioned wrath.

² The LORD’s Anger against AssyriaA jealous God, the LORD avenges. The LORD avenges; The Lord is an angry husband. The LORD takes vengeance on his enemies, reserving anger for his adversaries.

¹⁸ Neither their silver nor their gold will deliver them in the Day of the LORD’s wrath; but the entire land will be consumed by the fire of his jealousy, for he will bring the inhabitants of the land to a sudden end.”

⁸ “Just you wait!” declares the LORD. “The day will come when I stand up as a prosecutor, for I am determined to assemble the nations and to gather the kingdoms, in order to pour out my indignation upon them— all of my fierce anger. All the earth will be consumed by the fire of my jealousy.

³⁶ The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who disobeys the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

²² or you’ll provoke the Lord to jealousy, won’t you? Are we stronger than he is?

² I am jealous of you with God’s own jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to the Messiah.

²⁹ Amalek lives throughout the Negev, while the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live by the sea and on the bank of the Jordan.”

¹⁰ For the mountains may collapse and the hills may reel, but my gracious love will not depart from you, neither will my covenant of peace totter,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

²⁵ “I’m going to enter into a covenant with them, one of peace, and I’ll eliminate wild beasts from the land so they can live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forests.

⁴ “You will know that I sent this commandment to you in order to continue my covenant with Levi,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. ⁵ “My covenant with him was for life and peace, and I gave the commandments to him so he would fear me. He did fear me as he stood in my presence.

¹ The Coming of the Messenger“Watch out! I’m sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly, the LORD you are looking for will come to his Temple. He is the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Watch out! He is coming!” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

⁹ You are to gird Aaron and his sons with sashes and tie headdresses on them. The priesthood is to belong to them by perpetual ordinance, and you are to ordain Aaron and his sons.

³⁰ Moses Again Intercedes for the PeopleThe next day Moses told the people, “You committed a great sin, and now I’ll go up to the LORD, and perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

¹⁵ You are to anoint them just as you anointed their father so they may serve me as priests. Their anointing is to qualify them to belong to a perpetual priesthood from generation to generation.”

⁴⁶ Then Moses told Aaron. “Take the censer, put fire on it from the altar, and burn some incense. Then walk quickly to the congregation and atone for them, because wrath has already come out from the LORD—the plague has begun.”

¹² The Israelis have been unable to stand before their enemies. They’re turning their backs and running from their enemies because they themselves have been turned over to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy these things that have been turned over to destruction.

³⁰ “Therefore, the LORD God of Israel has declared, ‘I did, in fact, say that your family and your ancestor’s family would walk before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares, ‘Far be it from me! The one who honors me I’ll honor, and the one who despises me is to be treated with contempt.

³ So David asked the Gibeonites, “What am I to do for you? How am I to make atonement so that you will bless the LORD’s heritage?”

²⁷ So Solomon fired Abiathar as the LORD’s priest, thus fulfilling the promise that the LORD had spoken in Shiloh concerning Eli’s household.

¹⁰ “I’ve been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies,” he replied. “The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I—that’s right, just me!—am the only one left. Now they’re seeking my life, to get rid of me!”

¹⁴ “I’ve been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies,” he replied. “The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I—that’s right, just me!—am the only one left. Now they’re seeking my life, to get rid of me!”

⁴ Eleazar fathered Phinehas, Phinehas fathered Abishua, ⁵ Abishua fathered Bukki, Bukki fathered Uzzi, ⁶ Uzzi fathered Zerahiah, Zerahiah fathered Meraioth, ⁷ Meraioth fathered Amariah, Amariah fathered Ahitub, ⁸ Ahitub fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Ahimaaz, ⁹ Ahimaaz fathered Azariah, Azariah fathered Johanan, ¹⁰ and Johanan fathered Azariah, who served as priest in the Temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem. ¹¹ Azariah fathered Amariah, Amariah fathered Ahitub, ¹² Ahitub fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Shallum, ¹³ Shallum fathered Hilkiah, Hilkiah fathered Azariah, ¹⁴ Azariah fathered Seraiah, and Seraiah fathered Jehozadak. ¹⁵ The LORD sent Jehozadak, Judah, and Jerusalem into exile, using Nebuchadnezzar to do it.

⁵⁰ These are Aaron’s sons: his son Eleazar, his son Phinehas, his son Abishua, ⁵¹ his son Bukki, his son Uzzi, his son Zerahiah, ⁵² his son Meraioth, his son Amariah, his son Ahitub, ⁵³ his son Zadok, and his son Ahimaaz.

⁹ Zeal for your house consumes me, and the mockeries of those who insult you fall on me.

³¹ And it was credited to him as a righteous act, from generation to generation—to eternity.

¹³⁹ My zeal consumes me because my enemies forget your words.

⁶ But as for you, you will be called priests of the LORD, and you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of the nations, and you will boast about their riches.

¹⁸ nor will the Levitical priests be without a man offering up burnt offerings, bringing in grain offerings, and offering sacrifices continuously before me.’”

²² As the heavenly bodies cannot be counted, and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I’ll multiply the descendants of my servant David and the descendants of Levi who serve me.’”

¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

³ “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia but raised in this city and educated at the feet of Gamaliel in the strict ways of our ancestral Law. I am as zealous for God as all of you are today. ⁴ I persecuted this Way, even executing people, and kept tying up both men and women and putting them in prison, ⁵ as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. I also received letters from them to the brothers in Damascus, and I was going there to tie up those who were there and bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished.

² For I can testify on their behalf that they have a zeal for God, but it is not in keeping with full knowledge. ³ For they are ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God while they try to establish their own, and they have not submitted to God’s means to attain righteousness. ⁴ For the Messiah is the culmination of the Law as far as righteousness is concerned for everyone who believes.

¹⁷ thereby becoming like his brothers in every way, so that he could be a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God and could atone for the people’s sins.

¹¹ Now if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—for on this basis the people received the Law—what further need would there be to speak of appointing another kind of priest according to the order of Melchizedek, not one according to the order of Aaron?

¹⁷ For it is declared about him, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” ¹⁸ Indeed, because it was weak and ineffective, the former commandment has been annulled,

⁵ you, too, as living stones, are building yourselves up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, so that you may offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus, the Messiah.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people to be his very own and to proclaim the wonderful deeds of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

² It is he who is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world’s.

⁶ and has made us a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.

²³ Those registered with the tribe of Simeon numbered 59,300.

¹⁴ These families of the descendants of Simeon numbered 22,200.

⁷ So let the fear of the LORD rest upon you, be on your guard, and act carefully, because with the LORD our God there is neither injustice, nor partiality, nor bribery.”

⁸ They executed the five kings of Midian, including Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. They also executed Beor’s son Balaam with a sword.

²¹ all of the cities of the plain, the entire kingdom of King Sihon of the Amorites, who used to reign in Heshbon and whom Moses attacked, along with the chiefs of Midian, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, nobles of Sihon who lived in the land.

¹ War against MidianLater, the LORD told Moses, ² “Be sure to exact vengeance on behalf of the Israelis from the Midianites, after which you’ll be taken home to your people.”
³ So Moses instructed the people, “Muster your men of war to attack the Midianites and deliver the LORD’S vengeance against Midian.

⁶ Do to her as she herself has done, and give her double for her deeds. Mix a double drink for her in the cup she mixed.

¹³ Then the LORD God asked the woman, “What did you do?”
“The Shining One misled me,” the woman answered, “so I ate.”

¹⁰ “What have you done to us?” Abimelech asked. “Any minute now, one of the people could have had sex with your wife and you would have caused all of us to be guilty.”

²¹ Then Moses asked Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you brought such great sin upon them?”

³⁵ Then the LORD sent a plague on the people because they made the calf (the one Aaron made).

³ However, I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by its tricks, so your minds may somehow be lured away from sincere and pure devotion to the Messiah.

¹⁸ By talking high-sounding nonsense and using sinful cravings of the flesh, they entice people who have just escaped from those who live in error.