30. But Phinehas stood up and took action. Then the plague stopped.
31. What Phinehas did made him right with the Lord. It will be remembered for all time to come.
32. By the waters of Meribah the Lord's people made him angry. Moses got in trouble because of them.
33. They refused to obey the Spirit of God. So Moses spoke without thinking.
34. They didn't destroy the nations in Canaan as the Lord had commanded them.
35. Instead, they mixed with those nations and adopted their ways.
36. They worshiped statues of their gods. That became a trap for them.
37. They sacrificed their sons and daughters as offerings to demons.
38. They killed those who weren't guilty of doing anything wrong. They killed their own sons and daughters. They sacrificed them as offerings to statues of the gods of Canaan. The land became "unclean" because of the blood of their children.
39. The people polluted themselves by what they had done. They weren't faithful to the Lord.
40. So the Lord became angry with his people. He turned away from his own children.
41. He handed them over to the nations. Their enemies ruled over them.