במדבר 25
| וישב ישראל בשטים ויחל העם לזנות אל בנות מואב׃ | 1 |
While the Israelis were camped at a place called Acacia [Grove], some of the men caused themselves to become unacceptable to God by having sex with some of the women of the Moab [people-group who lived in that area].
| ותקראן לעם לזבחי אלהיהן ויאכל העם וישתחוו לאלהיהן׃ | 2 |
Then those women invited the men to come when the sacrifices were being offered to their gods. The Israeli men [accepted]. They went to the feasts with the women and worshiped the gods of the Moab people-group.
| ויצמד ישראל לבעל פעור ויחר אף יהוה בישראל׃ | 3 |
By doing that, those Israeli people joined the women in worshiping the god Baal [add] the Moab people-group thought lived on Peor Mountain. That caused Yahweh to become very angry with his people.
| ויאמר יהוה אל משה קח את כל ראשי העם והוקע אותם ליהוה נגד השמש וישב חרון אף יהוה מישראל׃ | 4 |
Yahweh said this to Moses/me: “Seize all the leaders of those men who are doing this and execute them while I am watching. Do that in the daytime. After you do that, I will no longer be angry with the Israeli people.”
| ויאמר משה אל שפטי ישראל הרגו איש אנשיו הנצמדים לבעל פעור׃ | 5 |
So Moses/I said to the other Israeli leaders, “Each of you must execute your men who have joined [others] in worshiping Baal.”
| והנה איש מבני ישראל בא ויקרב אל אחיו את המדינית לעיני משה ולעיני כל עדת בני ישראל והמה בכים פתח אהל מועד׃ | 6 |
[But later], while Moses/I and many [HYP] other people were crying at the entrance of the Sacred Tent, while they/we were watching, one of the Israeli men brought a woman from the Midian people-group into his tent [and started to have sex with her].
| וירא פינחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן ויקם מתוך העדה ויקח רמח בידו׃ | 7 |
When Phinehas, who was the grandson of Aaron, saw that, he grabbed a spear
| ויבא אחר איש ישראל אל הקבה וידקר את שניהם את איש ישראל ואת האשה אל קבתה ותעצר המגפה מעל בני ישראל׃ | 8 |
and rushed into the man’s tent. He thrust the spear completely through the man’s body and into the woman’s belly [and killed both of them]. When he did that, the (plague/serious illness) [that had started to strike the Israelis] stopped.
| ויהיו המתים במגפה ארבעה ועשרים אלף׃ | 9 |
But 24,000 people had already died [from that plague].
| וידבר יהוה אל משה לאמר׃ | 10 |
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me,
| פינחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן השיב את חמתי מעל בני ישראל בקנאו את קנאתי בתוכם ולא כליתי את בני ישראל בקנאתי׃ | 11 |
“Phinehas has caused me to stop being angry with the Israeli people, by being as eager as I am [to stop this sinful behavior]. I was ready to get rid of all the Israeli people because I was extremely angry, but Phinehas has prevented me from doing that.
| לכן אמר הנני נתן לו את בריתי שלום׃ | 12 |
Now tell him that I am making a special peace agreement with him.
| והיתה לו ולזרעו אחריו ברית כהנת עולם תחת אשר קנא לאלהיו ויכפר על בני ישראל׃ | 13 |
In this agreement, I am promising to give to him and to his descendants the right/authority to be priests. I am doing this because [he showed that] he was very eager to honor me, his God, by stopping this sinful behavior. He has caused the Israeli people to become acceptable to me again by causing them to be forgiven for their sin.”
| ושם איש ישראל המכה אשר הכה את המדינית זמרי בן סלוא נשיא בית אב לשמעני׃ | 14 |
The Israeli man who was killed with the woman of the Moab people-group was named Zimri. He was the son of Salu, who was the leader of a family from the tribe of Simeon.
| ושם האשה המכה המדינית כזבי בת צור ראש אמות בית אב במדין הוא׃ | 15 |
The woman’s name was Cozbi. She was the daughter of Zur, who was the leader of one of the clans of the Midian people-group.
| וידבר יהוה אל משה לאמר׃ | 16 |
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me,
| צרור את המדינים והכיתם אותם׃ | 17 |
“[Take your men and] attack the Midian people-group and kill them.
| כי צררים הם לכם בנכליהם אשר נכלו לכם על דבר פעור ועל דבר כזבי בת נשיא מדין אחתם המכה ביום המגפה על דבר פעור׃ | 18 |
They have become your enemies, because they tricked you Israeli people and induced/persuaded many of you to worship Baal, and because [one of your men had sex with] Cozbi, who was the daughter of a leader of the Midian people-group. She was killed at the time the plague [started because the people sinned] at Peor [Mountain].”
