HOW MANY DIED IN THE PLAGUE?

Numbers 25:9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. (KJV) I Corinthians 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. (KJV)

A common response that I see to this one is that 23,000 died in a single day, but 24,000 died overall (a thousand dying on a different day).  But actually, these are two different plagues being mentioned in these two passages.  The plague referred to in 1 Corinthians 10 is not the plague referred to in Numbers 25, but the plague in Exodus 32, which is made quite clear from the preceding verse (1 Corinthians 10:7) which says, "Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.", an obvious reference to Exodus 32:6 which says, "And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play." (KJV)  Not a contradiction.