Numbers 25:6-15

⁶Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁷When 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, ⁸and 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. So the plague on the sons of Israel was brought to a halt. ⁹But those who died from the plague were twenty-four thousand in number.

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

¹⁴Now the name of the dead man of Israel who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s household among the Simeonites. ¹⁵And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian.