Numbers 25-26

Complete Jewish Bible

25 Isra’el stayed at Sheetim, and there the people began whoring with the women of Mo’av. ² These women invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, where the people ate and bowed down to their gods. ³ With Isra’el thus joined to Ba‘al-P‘or, the anger of Adonai blazed up against Isra’el.

⁴ Adonai said to Moshe, “Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them facing the sun before Adonai, so that the raging fury of Adonai will turn away from Isra’el.” ⁵ Moshe said to the judges of Isra’el, “Each of you is to put to death those in his tribe who have joined themselves to Ba‘al-P‘or.”

⁶ Just then, in the sight of Moshe and the whole community of Isra’el, as they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting, a man from Isra’el came by, bringing to his family a woman from Midyan. (Maftir) ⁷ When Pinchas the son of El‘azar, the son of Aharon the cohen, saw it, he got up from the middle of the crowd, took a spear in his hand, ⁸ and pursued the man from Isra’el right into the inner part of the tent, where he thrust his spear through both of them — the man from Isra’el and the woman through her stomach. Thus was the plague among the people of Isra’el stopped; ⁹ nevertheless, 24,000 died in the plague.

Haftarah Balak: Mikhah (Micah) 5:6(7)– 6:8

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Balak: 2 Kefa (2 Peter) 2:1–22; Y’hudah (Jude) 11; Revelation 2:14–15

Parashah 41: Pinchas (Phinehas) 25:10 –30:1(29:40)

¹⁰ Adonai said to Moshe, ¹¹ “Pinchas the son of El‘azar, the son of Aharon the cohen, has deflected my anger from the people of Isra’el by being as zealous as I am, so that I didn’t destroy them in my own zeal. ¹² Therefore say, ‘I am giving him my covenant of shalom, ¹³ making a covenant with him and his descendants after him that the office of cohen will be theirs forever.’ This is because he was zealous on behalf of his God and made atonement for the people of Isra’el.”

¹⁴ The name of the man from Isra’el who was killed, put to death with the woman from Midyan, was Zimri the son of Salu, leader of one of the clans from the tribe of Shim‘on. ¹⁵ The name of the woman from Midyan who was killed was Kozbi the daughter of Tzur, and he was head of the people in one of the clans of Midyan.

¹⁶ Adonai said to Moshe, ¹⁷ “Treat the Midyanim as enemies and attack them; ¹⁸ because they are treating you as enemies by the trickery they used to deceive you in the P‘or incident and in the affair of their sister Kozbi, the daughter of the leader from Midyan, the woman who was killed on the day of the plague in the P‘or incident.” ^19 (26:1) After the plague,

26 Adonai said to Moshe and El‘azar, the son of Aharon the cohen, ² “Take a census of the entire assembly of the people of Isra’el twenty years old and over, by their ancestral clans, all who are subject to military service in Isra’el.” ³ Moshe and El‘azar the cohen spoke with them on the plains of Mo’av by the Yarden across from Yericho, explaining, ⁴ “Those twenty years old and over who came out of the land of Egypt, as Adonai ordered Moshe and the people of Isra’el.”

(ii) ⁵ [The census results begin with] Re’uven, the firstborn of Isra’el. The descendants of Re’uven were: of Hanokh, the family of the Hanokhi; of Pallu, the family of the Pallu’i; ⁶ of Hetzron, the family of the Hetzroni; and of Karmi the family of the Karmi. ⁷ These were the the families of the Re’uveni; of them were counted 43,730.

⁸ The sons of Pallu: Eli’av; ⁹ and the sons of Eli’av: N’mu’el, Datan and Aviram. These are the same Datan and Aviram, men of reputation in the community, who rebelled against Moshe and Aharon in Korach’s group, when they rebelled against Adonai; ¹⁰ and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korach when that group died, and the fire consumed 250 men, and they became a warning sign. ¹¹ (However, the sons of Korach did not die.)

¹² The descendants of Shim‘on, by their families, were: of N’mu’el, the family of the N’mu’eli; of Yamin, the family of the Yamini; of Yakhin, the family of the Yakhini; ¹³ of Zerach, the family of the Zarchi; and of Sha’ul, the family of the Sha’uli. ¹⁴ These were the families of the Shim‘oni, 22,200.

¹⁵ The descendants of Gad, by their families, were: of Tz’fon, the family of the Tz’foni; of Haggi, the family of the Haggi; of Shuni, the family of the Shuni; ¹⁶ of Ozni, the family of the Ozni; of ‘Eri, the family of the ‘Eri; ¹⁷ of Arod, the family of the Arodi; and of Ar’eli, the family of the Ar’eli. ¹⁸ These were the families of the sons of Gad, according to those counted of them, 40,500.

¹⁹ The sons of Y’hudah: First ‘Er and Onan, but ‘Er and Onan died in the land of Kena‘an. ²⁰ The sons of Y’hudah who had descendants were: of Shelah, the family of the Shelani; of Peretz, the family of the Partzi; and of Zerach, the family of the Zarchi. ²¹ The sons of Peretz were: of Hetzron, the family of the Hetzroni; and of Hamul, the family of the Hamuli. ²² These were the families of Y’hudah, according to those counted of them, 76,500.

²³ The descendants of Yissakhar, by their families, were: of Tola, the family of the Tola‘i; of Puvah, the family of the Puni; ²⁴ of Yashuv, the family of the Yashuvi; and of Shimron, the family of the Shimroni. ²⁵ These were the families of Yissakhar, according to those counted of them, 64,300.

²⁶ The descendants of Z’vulun, by their families, were: of Sered, the family of the Sardi; of Elon, the family of the Eloni; and of Yachle’el, the family of the Yachle’eli. ²⁷ These were the families of the Z’vuloni, according to those counted of them, 60,500.

²⁸ The sons of Yosef, by their families, were M’nasheh and Efrayim. ²⁹ The descendants of M’nasheh were: of Makhir, the family of the Makhiri. Makhir was the father of Gil‘ad; of Gil‘ad, the family of the Gil‘adi. ³⁰ These are the descendants of Gil‘ad: of I‘ezer, the family of the I‘ezri; of Helek, the family of the Helki; ³¹ of Asri’el, the family of the Asri’eli; of Sh’khem, the family of the Shikhmi; ³² of Sh’mida, the family of the Sh’mida‘i; and of Hefer, the family of the Hefri. ³³ Tz’lof’chad the son of Hefer had no sons but daughters; the names of the daughters of Tz’lof’chad were Machlah, No‘ah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirtzah. ³⁴ These were the families of M’nasheh; of them were counted 52,700.

³⁵ These are the descendants of Efrayim, by their families: of Shutelach, the family of the Shutalchi; of Bekher, the family of the Bakhri; and of Tachan, the family of the Tachani. ³⁶ These are the descendants of Shutelach: of ‘Eran, the family of the ‘Erani. ³⁷ These were the families of the descendants of Efrayim, according to those of them that were counted, 32,500. These were the descendants of Yosef, by their families.

³⁸ The descendants of Binyamin, by their families were: of Bela, the family of the Bal‘i; of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbeli; of Achiram, the family of the Achirami; ³⁹ of Sh’fufam, the family of the Shufami; and of Hufam, the family of the Hufami. ⁴⁰ The sons of Bela were Ard and Na‘aman; [of Ard,] the family of the Ardi; and of Na‘aman, the family of the Na‘ami. ⁴¹ These were the descendants of Binyamin, by their families; of them were counted 45,600.

⁴² The descendants of Dan, by their families, were: of Shucham, the family of the Shuchami. These are the families of Dan, by their families. ⁴³ All the families of the Shuchami, according to those of them that were counted, were 64,400.

⁴⁴ The descendants of Asher, by their families: of Yimnah, the family of the Yimnah; of Yishvi, the family of the Yishvi; and of B’ri‘ah, the family of the B’ri‘i. ⁴⁵ Of the descendants of B’ri‘ah: of Hever, the family of the Hevri; and of Malki’el, the family of the Malki’eli. ⁴⁶ The name of Asher’s daughter was Serach. ⁴⁷ These were the families of the descendants of Asher, according to those of them that were counted, 53,400.

⁴⁸ The descendants of Naftali, by their families: of Yachtze’el, the families of the Yachtze’eli; of Guni, the family of the Guni; ⁴⁹ of Yetzer, the family of the Yitzri; and of Shillem, the family of the Shillemi. ⁵⁰ These are the families of Naftali according to their families; those of them that were counted were 45,400.

⁵¹ Thus those who were counted of the people of Isra’el numbered 601,730.

(iii) ⁵² Adonai said to Moshe, ⁵³ “The land is to be parceled out among these as a possession to be inherited, according to the number of names. ⁵⁴ To those families with more persons you are to give a greater inheritance, and to those with fewer you are to give a smaller inheritance — each family’s inheritance is to be given according to the number counted in it. ⁵⁵ However, the land is to be awarded by lot. They will inherit according to the names of the tribes of their ancestors, ⁵⁶ but the inheritance is to be parceled out by lot between the families with more and those with fewer.”

⁵⁷ Those counted among the Levi, by their families, were: of Gershon, the family of the Gershuni, of K’hat, the family of the K’hati; and of M’rari, the family of the M’rari. ⁵⁸ These are the families of Levi: the family of the Livni, the family of the Hevroni, the family of the Machli, the family of the Mushi and the family of the Korchi. K’hat was the father of ‘Amram. ⁵⁹ The name of ‘Amram’s wife was Yokheved the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to ‘Amram Aharon, Moshe and their sister Miryam. ⁶⁰ To Aharon were born Nadav, Avihu, El‘azar and Itamar; ⁶¹ but Nadav and Avihu died when they offered unauthorized fire before Adonai. ⁶² Those males one month old or more counted of the Levi were 23,000. These were not included in the census of the people of Isra’el, because no land for inheritance was given to them among the people of Isra’el.

⁶³ These are the ones counted by Moshe and El‘azar the cohen, who took a census of the people of Isra’el in the plains of Mo’av by the Yarden across from Yericho. ⁶⁴ But there was not a man among them who had also been included in the census of Moshe and Aharon the cohen when they enumerated the people of Isra’el in the Sinai Desert; ⁶⁵ because Adonai had said of them, “They will surely die in the desert.” So there was not left even one of them, except Kalev the son of Y’funeh and Y’hoshua the son of Nun.