Psalms 106:30
in Psalms 106But Phinehas stood and intervened, and the plague was restrained.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment; And so the plague was stayed.
KJV
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.
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This verse in Psalms 106
Commentary
12 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
yoked themselves to Baal of Peor
on Psalms 106:28-31
At Peor they yoked themselves to Baal and ate what was offered to lifeless gods. That is Numbers 25: a plague broke out, and it stopped. Phinehas stood and intervened, and verse 31 credits the act to him as righteousness, the words Genesis 15:6 uses of Abram's faith.
This site's exposition
Phinehas stood and intervened
Intervened translates a form of palal, a verb often used of prayer, here of a man who stood and judged. Numbers 25:7 and 8 records the act, a spear in the hand of Phinehas. Then the anger of the LORD turned away.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
A commentator
John ChrysostomDISCOURSES AGAINST JUDAIZING CHRISTIANS 6:3.1 · Written before 407.
proposed
Tell me this. Will you still dare to call Jesus an imposter and lawbreaker? Will you not instead go off and bury yourselves somewhere, when you look the facts in the face, since their truth is so obvious? If Jesus were an imposter and lawbreaker, as you say he was, you should have been held in high honor for putting him to death. Phinehas killed a man and put an end to all God's wrath against the people. The psalmist said, "Then Phinehas stood up and propitiated him, and the slaughter stopped." He rescued a great many ungodly people from the wrath of God by slaying a single lawbreaker. This should have happened all the more in your case, if indeed the man you crucified was a transgressor of the law.
"Then stood up Phineas, and appeased Him, and the shaking ceased" [Psalm 106:30]. He has related the whole briefly, because he is not here teaching the ignorant, but reminding those who know the history. The word "shaking" here is the same as "breaking" before. For it is one word in the Greek. Lastly, so great was their wickedness, in being consecrated to the idol, and eating the sacrifices of the dead (that is, because the Gentiles sacrificed to dead men as to God), that God would not be otherwise appeased than as Phineas the Priest appeased Him, when he slew a man and a woman together whom he found in adultery. [Numbers 25:8] If he had done this from hatred towards them, and not from love, while zeal for the house of God devoured him, it would not have been counted unto him for righteousness....Christ our Lord indeed, when the New Testament was revealed, chose a milder discipline; but the threat of hell is more severe, and this we do not read of in those threatenings held out by God in His temporal government.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
When the proper officers did their duty God left it to them, and did not any longer keep the work in his own hands by the plague. Note, National justice prevents national judgments. But, Phinehas herein signalizing himself, a special mark of honour was put upon him, for what he did was counted to him for righteousness to all generations (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
) by offering up the sinners. Note, It is the honour of saints to be zealous against sin. They continued their murmurings to the very last of their wanderings; for in the fortieth year they angered God at the waters of strife (
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Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment,.... When none else would, he rose up in great zeal for the Lord of hosts; and took on him the work of a civil magistrate, and slew two persons of noble birth in the very act of fornication.
5 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century5 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
sacrifices of the dead--that is, of lifeless idols, contrasted with "the living God" (Jer 10:3-10; compare Ps 115:4-7; On the words, joined themselves to Baal-peor--see Nu 25:2, 3, 5. Baal-peor--that is, the possessor of Peor, the mountain on which Chemosh, the idol of Moab, was worshipped, and at the foot of which Israel at the time lay encamped (Nu 23:28).
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A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
stood--as Aaron "stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was stayed" (Nu 16:48). executed judgment--literally, "judged," including sentence and act.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. God has his champions left in the worst times, and they will stand up when the time comes for them to come forth to battle. This righteous indignation moved him to a quick execution of two open offenders. His honest spirit could not endure that lewdness should be publicly practised at a time when a fast had been proclaimed.
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. God has his champions left in the worst times, and they will stand up when the time comes for them to come forth to battle. This righteous indignation moved him to a quick execution of two open offenders. His honest spirit could not endure that lewdness should be publicly practised at a time when a fast had been proclaimed. Such daring defiance of God and of all law he could not brook, and so with his sharp javelin he transfixed the two guilty ones in the very act. It was a holy passion which inflamed him, and no enmity to either of the persons whom he slew. The circumstances were so remarkable and the sin so flagrant that it would have involved great sin in a public man to have stood still and seen God thus defied, and Israel thus polluted. Phinehas was not of this mind, he was no trimmer, or palliator of sin, his heart was sound in God's statutes, and his whole nature was ablaze with zeal for God's glory, and therefore, though a priest, and therefore not obliged to be an executioner, he undertook the unwelcome task, and though both transgressors were of princely stock he had no respect of persons, but dealt justice upon them as if they had been the lowest of the people. This brave and decided deed was so acceptable to God as a proof that there were some sincere souls in Israel that the deadly visitation went no further. Two deaths had sufficed to save the lives of the multitude.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment ... - Inflicted summary punishment upon a principal offender. Num 25:7-8.
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּעֲמֹ֣ד | vaiyaamod | and he stood up | H5975 → | 521 times |
| פִּֽ֭ינְחָס | pinchos | Phinehas | H6372 → | |
| וַיְפַלֵּ֑ל | vayfalel | and he mediated | H6419 → | 84 times |
| וַ֝תֵּעָצַ֗ר | vateatzar | and it was restrained | H6113 → | |
| הַמַּגֵּפָֽה׃ | hamagefah | the plague | H4046 → |
וַיַּעֲמֹ֣דand he stood up
vaiyaamodH5975 →521 times
פִּֽ֭ינְחָסPhinehas
pinchosH6372 →
וַיְפַלֵּ֑לand he mediated
vayfalelH6419 →84 times
וַ֝תֵּעָצַ֗רand it was restrained
vateatzarH6113 →
הַמַּגֵּפָֽה׃the plague
hamagefahH4046 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Joshua 7:12This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they themselves have been set apart for destruction. I will no longer be…
it leads to
- Psalms 5:4–5
For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; no evil can dwell with You.
- Isaiah 59:2
But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.
- Judges 2:14
Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they…
- Joshua 6:18
But keep away from the things devoted to destruction, lest you yourself be set apart for destruction. If you take any of these, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and…
- Numbers 14:45
Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them all the way to Hormah.
- Psalms 5:4–5
Where this verse is studied
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This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 106; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 5; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, DISCOURSES AGAINST JUDAIZING CHRISTIANS 6:3.1; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.