^7 (A)When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand, ⁸ and he went after the man of Israel into the inner room of the tent and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman, through the abdomen. ^(B)So the plague on the sons of Israel was brought to a halt. ^9 (C)But those who died from the plague were twenty-four thousand in number.

The Zeal of Phinehas

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹ “^(D)Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has averted My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was ^[a]jealous with My ^[b]jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel ^(E)in My ^[c]jealousy. ¹² Therefore say, ‘^(F)Behold, I am giving him My ^(G)covenant of peace; ¹³ and it shall be for him and for his ^[d]descendants after him, a covenant of a ^(H)permanent priesthood, because he was ^[e]jealous for his God and ^(I)made atonement for the sons of Israel.’”

³³ And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of his son ^(A)Phinehas, which was given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.