Verse Lens · Context pointer
Numbers 25:2 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 2. 2And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Numbers 25:2 within “Peor Worship Brings a Command to Kill Leaders,” advances the leadership crisis through this actor and consequence; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.
Read It With
- Numbers 25:1–5
Read Numbers 25:2 with 25:1–5. It within “Peor Worship Brings a Command to Kill Leaders,” advances the leadership crisis through this actor and consequence; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. The complete unit establishes this contextual meaning: At Shittim, Israelite men have sex with Moabite women, eat sacrificial meals, bow to their gods, and join Baal-peor; divine anger orders leaders executed and exposed, while Moses tells judges to kill offenders.
Why It Needs Context
Numbers 25:2 within “Peor Worship Brings a Command to Kill Leaders,” advances the leadership crisis through this actor and consequence; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. Its responsible force depends on 25:1–5; isolated from “Peor Worship Brings a Command to Kill Leaders,” the verse's actor, action, reason, object, or transition could be mistaken for independent teaching.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Numbers 25:1–5 — Peor Worship Brings a Command to Kill LeadersSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Numbers 25:1–5, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Numbers
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, release 2.2, 2021
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, numbers, speeches, poems, legal clauses, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Num.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 25:1–5
Open source ↗