Numbers 25 · a question people ask
Numbers says twenty-four thousand died. Paul says twenty-three thousand. Which is it?
Numbers says, "Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand" (25:9). Paul writes, "Let’s not commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell" (1 Corinthians 10:8). Paul doesn't name the place, but his words fit this chapter, where "the people began to play the prostitute" (25:1) and a plague followed (25:8-9). Readers who take Paul to mean Peor handle the difference in two main ways. Both agree on Paul's point: "these things were our examples" (1 Corinthians 10:6).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
In one day
Some note that Paul counts those who fell "in one day" (1 Corinthians 10:8), while Numbers gives the whole number of "those who died by the plague" (25:9) and doesn't say how many days it lasted. On this reading the two numbers count different things, and Numbers' total includes those who died on other days.
1 Corinthians 10:8 · Numbers 25:9
Two round numbers
Others read the two numbers themselves as rounded. Each verse gives its number in whole thousands, "twenty-four thousand" (25:9) and "twenty-three thousand" (1 Corinthians 10:8), with nothing smaller; on this reading the number who died lay between the two, and each writer gave it in round thousands.
Numbers 25:9 · 1 Corinthians 10:8
The verses
“Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab;”
“He went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.”
“Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.”
“Let’s not commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell.”