Bible Strands
Numbers 25:4
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that His fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks to Moses immediately after the Israelites join in worshiping Baal of Peor and provoke His anger. He commands Moses to gather the people's leaders and carry out a public execution to halt the divine wrath.
The words — קַח (kach) is the imperative "take," initiating the commanded action. רָאשֵׁי (ra'shei) translates to "heads" or "leaders," specifying the exact targets of the decree.
The thread — The motif of turning away God's "fierce anger" through decisive judgment appears in Deuteronomy 13:17 and is echoed in the Phinehas account of Numbers 25:11. The destruction of Baal-peor followers is also referenced in Deuteronomy 4:3.
Why it lands — The text demands immediate, public obedience to divine justice to stop a spreading plague. It requires the reader to recognize that covenant faithfulness demands tangible action against idolatry, not mere acknowledgment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
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.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 13:17 Nothing devoted to destruction shall cling to your hands, so that the LORD will turn from His fierce anger, grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers,
- Deuteronomy 4:3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor.
- Numbers 25:11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My wrath away from the Israelites; for he was zealous for My sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in My zeal.
- Deuteronomy 21:23 you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
- 2 Samuel 21:6 let seven of his male descendants be delivered to us so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” “I will give them to you,” said the king.
- Exodus 18:25 So Moses chose capable men from all Israel and made them heads over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
- Numbers 25:14 The name of the Israelite who was slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family.
- Numbers 25:18 For they assailed you deceitfully when they seduced you in the matter of Peor and their sister Cozbi, the daughter of the Midianite leader, the woman who was killed on the day the plague came because of Peor.”
- Deuteronomy 13:6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (which neither you nor your fathers have known,
- Deuteronomy 13:13 that wicked men have arisen from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known),