106:28 They worshiped 1 Baal of Peor,
and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. 2
106:29 They made the Lord angry 3 by their actions,
and a plague broke out among them.
106:30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened, 4
and the plague subsided.
106:31 This brought him a reward,
an eternal gift. 5
106:32 They made him angry by the waters of Meribah,
and Moses suffered 6 because of them,
106:33 for they aroused 7 his temper, 8
and he spoke rashly. 9
1 tn Heb “joined themselves to.”
sn They worshiped Baal of Peor. See Num 25:3, 5. Baal of Peor was a local manifestation of the Canaanite deity Baal located at Peor.
2 tn Here “the dead” may refer to deceased ancestors (see Deut 26:14). Another option is to understand the term as a derogatory reference to the various deities which the Israelites worshiped at Peor along with Baal (see Num 25:2 and L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 49).
3 tn Heb “They made angry [him].” The pronominal suffix is omitted here, but does appear in a few medieval Hebrew
4 sn The intervention of Phinehas is recounted in Num 25:7-8.
5 tn Heb “and it was reckoned to him for righteousness, to a generation and a generation forever.” The verb חָשַׁב (khashav, “to reckon”) is collocated with צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”) only in Ps 106:31 and Gen 15:6, where God rewards Abram’s faith with a land grant.
sn Brought him a reward. See Num 25:12-13.
6 tn Heb “there was harm to Moses.”
7 tn The Hebrew text vocalizes the form as הִמְרוּ (himru), a Hiphil from מָרָה (marah, “to behave rebelliously”), but the verb fits better with the object (“his spirit”) if it is revocalized as הֵמֵרוּ (hemeru), a Hiphil from מָרַר (marar, “to be bitter”). The Israelites “embittered” Moses’ “spirit” in the sense that they aroused his temper with their complaints.
8 tn Heb “his spirit.”
9 tn The Hebrew text adds “with his lips,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
sn Verses 32-33 allude to the events of Num 20:1-13.