BEMIḎBAR 25 (Numbers 25)

1 And Yisra’ĕl dwelt in Shittim, and the people began to whore with the daughters of Mo’aḇ,

2 and they invited the people to the slaughterings of their mighty ones, and the people ate and bowed down to their mighty ones.

3 Thus Yisra’ĕl was joined to Ba’al Pe’or, and the displeasure of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 burned against Yisra’ĕl.

4 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said to Mosheh, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang them up before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, before the sun, so that the burning displeasure of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 turns away from Yisra’ĕl.”

5 And Mosheh said to the judges of Yisra’ĕl, “Each one of you slay his men who were joined to Ba’al Pe’or.”

6 And see, one of the children of Yisra’ĕl came and brought to his brothers a Miḏyanite woman before the eyes of Mosheh and before the eyes of all the congregation of the children of Yisra’ĕl, who were weeping at the door of the Tent of Appointment.

7 And when Pineḥas, son of El’azar, son of Aharon the kohĕn, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation and took a spear in his hand,

8 and he went after the man of Yisra’ĕl into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Yisra’ĕl, and the woman through her abdomen. Thus the plague among the children of Yisra’ĕl came to a stop.

9 And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

10 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 spoke to Mosheh, saying,

11 “Pineḥas, son of El’azar, son of Aharon the kohĕn, has turned back My wrath from the children of Yisra’ĕl, because he was ardent with My ardour in their midst, so that I did not consume the children of Yisra’ĕl in My ardour.

12 “Therefore say, ‘See, I am giving him My covenant of peace,

13 and it shall be to him and to his seed after him a covenant of an everlasting kehunnah, because he was ardent for his Elohim, and made atonement for the children of Yisra’ĕl.’ ”

14 And the name of the Yisra’ĕlite who was killed, who was killed with the Miḏyanite woman, was Zimri, son of Salu, a leader of a father’s house among the Shim’onites.

15 And the name of the Miḏyanite woman who was killed was Kozbi the daughter of Tsur. He was head of the people of a father’s house in Miḏyan.

16 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 spoke to Mosheh, saying,

17 “Distress the Miḏyanites! And you shall smite them,

18 for they distressed you with their tricks with which they deceived you in the matter of Pe’or and in the matter of Kozbi, the daughter of a leader of Miḏyan, their sister, who was killed in the day of the plague because of Pe’or.”