When Moses told these things to all the Israelites, the people mourned greatly.

But Moses said, “Why are you now transgressing the commandment of the Lord? It will not succeed!

Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up.

Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel went after him.

Then Moses and Aaron stood before the tent of meeting.

Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.

Then Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the testimony.

So Moses did as the Lord commanded him – this is what he did.

The Israelites said to Moses, “We are bound to die! We perish, we all perish!

And there was no water for the community, and so they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron.

The people contended with Moses, saying, “If only we had died when our brothers died before the Lord!

So Moses did as the Lord commanded; and they went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community.

Moses sent spies to reconnoiter Jaazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you must execute those of his men who were joined to Baal-peor.”

So Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan River across from Jericho. They said,

He laid his hands on him and commissioned him, just as the Lord commanded, by the authority of Moses.

They fought against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed every male.

Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp.

But Moses was furious with the officers of the army, the commanders over thousands and commanders over hundreds, who had come from service in the war.

From the Israelites’ half-share that Moses had separated from the fighting men,