Numbers 25:4 - Forerunner Commentary

Numbers 25:4

2 ^aThey invited the people to ^bthe sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and ^cbowed down to their gods.

3 So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and ^athe anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, ^a“Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord, out in the sun, ^bthat the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”

5 So Moses said to ^athe judges of Israel, ^b“Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor.”

6 And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, ^awho were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

7 Now ^awhen Phinehas ^bthe son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand;

8 and 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. So ^athe plague was ^bstopped among the children of Israel.

9 And ^athose who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

10 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

11 ^a“Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in ^bMy zeal.

12 Therefore say, ^a‘Behold, I give to him ^bMy covenant of peace;

13 and it shall be to him and ^ahis descendants after him a covenant of ^ban everlasting priesthood, because he was ^czealous for his God, and ^dmade atonement for the children of Israel.’ ”

14 Now the name of the Israelite who was killed, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s house among the Simeonites.

15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of ^aZur; he was head of the people of a father’s house in Midian.

16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

17 ^a“Harass the Midianites, and attack them;

18 for they harassed you with their ^aschemes by which they seduced you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister, who was killed in the day of the plague because of Peor.”

Verse Comparison: Numbers 25:4

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American Standard Version
And Jehovah said unto Moses, Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up unto Jehovah before the sun, that the fierce anger of Jehovah may turn away from Israel.

Amplified® Bible
And the Lord said to Moses, Take all the leaders {or} chiefs of the people, and hang them before the Lord in the sun [after killing them], that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.

Contemporary English Version
So he said to Moses, "Take the Israelite leaders who are responsible for this and have them killed in front of my sacred tent where everyone can see. Maybe then I will stop being angry with the Israelites."

Darby English Version
And Jehovah said to Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up to Jehovah before the sun, that the fierce anger of Jehovah may be turned away from Israel.

Good News Bible
and said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of Israel and, in obedience to me, execute them in broad daylight, and then I will no longer be angry with the people."

King James Version
And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.

New American Standard Bible
The LORD said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel."

New International Version
The LORD said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the LORD's fierce anger may turn away from Israel."

New King James Version
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the LORD, out in the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.”

N.A.S.B. in E-Prime
The LORD said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel."

Revised Standard Version
and the LORD said to Moses, "Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them in the sun before the LORD, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel."

Young's Literal Translation
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them before Jehovah -- over-against the sun; and the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah doth turn back from Israel.'

New English Translation
The Lord said to Moses, “Arrest all the leaders¹ of the people, and hang them up² before the Lord in broad daylight,³ so that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.”

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