7 Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron the priest, saw the couple and left the crowd. He found a spear
8 and followed the man into his tent, where he ran the spear through the man and into the woman's stomach. The Lord immediately stopped punishing Israel with a deadly disease,
9 but twenty-four thousand Israelites had already died.
10 The Lord said to Moses,
11 “In my anger, I would have wiped out the Israelites if Phinehas had not been faithful to me.
12-13 But instead of punishing them, I forgave them. So because of the loyalty that Phinehas showed, I solemnly promise that he and his descendants will always be my priests.”
14 The Israelite man that was killed was Zimri son of Salu, who was one of the leaders of the Simeon tribe.