27. make their descendants fall among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.
28. They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods;
29. they aroused the Lord’s anger by their wicked deeds, and a plague broke out among them.
30. But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked.
31. This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.
32. By the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them;
33. for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses’ lips.
34. They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord had commanded them,
35. but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.
36. They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them.
37. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to false gods.
38. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood.
39. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.
40. Therefore the Lord was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance.
41. He gave them into the hands of the nations, and their foes ruled over them.
42. Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power.
43. Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin.
44. Yet he took note of their distress when he heard their cry;