Hebrew word · H6465

פְּעוֹר

pe'or

Peor

A mountain in Moab looking over the wilderness (Num 23:28), and the local god worshipped there, 'Baal of Peor' (Baal-Peor). The place name became shorthand for the episode of Numbers 25.

Appears 5 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

§ Peor = "cleft"

a mountain peak in Moab belonging to the Abarim range and near Pisgah

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Joshua 22:17

Range of meaning

A mountain in Moab looking over the wilderness (Num 23:28), and the local god worshipped there, 'Baal of Peor' (Baal-Peor). The place name became shorthand for the episode of Numbers 25.

Against the English

English versions all keep the name. BSB's 'sin of Peor' and NIV-style renderings are fine as long as the reader knows the story. Without it, the phrase means nothing.

Used elsewhere in the period

Num 25:1–18; 31:16; Deut 4:3; Ps 106:28; Hos 9:10. Hosea writes: 'they came to Baal-Peor and consecrated themselves to shame.' The Septuagint spells it Phogōr. By the time of this speech, Peor was the textbook case of Israel's apostasy.

Where it appears

Numbers · 4

  1. Numbers 23:28 הַפְּע֔וֹר <the> Peor

    And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.

  2. Numbers 25:18 פְּע֑וֹר פְּעֽוֹר׃ Peor

    For they assailed you deceitfully when they seduced you in the matter of Peor and their sister Cozbi, the daughter of the Midianite leader, the woman who was killed on the day the plague came because of Peor.”

  3. Numbers 31:16 פְּע֑וֹר Peor

    “Look, these women caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to turn unfaithfully against the LORD at Peor, so that the plague struck the congregation of the LORD.

    Here: A mountain or site in Moab where a local Baal was worshipped ('Baal of Peor'). There Israel joined in that god's sacrificial feasts and sexual liaisons (Num 25:1–3).

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 22:17 פְּע֔וֹר Peor

    Was not the sin of Peor enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day? It even brought a plague upon the congregation of the LORD.

    Here: A mountain and shrine in Moab. The name is shorthand for the whole episode in Numbers 25, when Israel joined in the worship of 'Baal of Peor.'

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.