but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.
Parallel translations
- WEB Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.
- KJV And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
- NKJV And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.
- NASB But those who died from the plague were twenty-four thousand in number.
- NLT but not before 24,000 people had died.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The plague killed twenty-four thousand Israelites. The staggering toll reveals the seriousness of idolatry and immorality before God.
Overview
The large number of dead measures the severity of God's judgment on covenant unfaithfulness at Peor. Paul later references this event as a warning to believers against idolatry and sexual sin. The verse stands as a sober reminder that God takes the holiness of His people with utmost seriousness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- 1 Cor 10:8We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.
- Num 25:4–5Then 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.”
- Deut 4:3–4Your 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.
- Num 16:49–50But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who had died on account of Korah.
- Num 31:16“Look, these women caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to turn unfaithfully against the LORD at Peor, so that the plague struck the congregation of the LORD.
- Num 14:37those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the LORD.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 25:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.