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,