Numbers 25:14
וְשֵׁם אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל הַמֻּכֶּה אֲשֶׁר הֻכָּה אֶת־הַמִּדְיָנִית זִמְרִי בֶּן־סָלוּא נְשִׂיא בֵֽית־אָב לַשִּׁמְעֹנִֽי׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְשֵׁם֩ אִ֨ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל הַמֻּכֶּ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֤ר הֻכָּה֙ אֶת־הַמִּדְיָנִ֔ית זִמְרִ֖י בֶּן־סָל֑וּא נְשִׂ֥יא בֵֽית־אָ֖ב לַשִּׁמְעֹנִֽי׃
τὸ δὲ ὄνομα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ ᾿Ισραηλείτου τοῦ ὅς ἐπλήγη μετὰ τῆς Μαδιανείτιδος, Ζαμβρεί, υἱὸς Σαλμών, οἴκου πατριᾶς τῶν Συμεών·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Erat autem nomen viri Israëlitæ, qui occisus est cum Madianitide, Zambri filius Salu, dux de cognatione et tribu Simeonis.
El israelita que fue asesinado junto a la mujer madianita se llamaba Zimri, hijo de Salu, líder de una familia de la tribu de Simeón.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y el nombre del varón muerto, que fué muerto con la Madianita, era Zimri hijo de Salu, jefe de una familia de la tribu de Simeón.
The name of the Israelite who was slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse identifies the Israelite man who was killed alongside the Midianite woman in the preceding narrative. It names him as Zimri ("Zimri", H2174G), son of Salu ("Salu", H5543C), and specifies his status as a leader within the tribe of Simeon.
Key words
- ha.mukKeh ("who was struck down", H5221) — hophal passive participle, masculine singular; describes the man as one already in the state of "having been struck down," setting up the identification.
- huk.Kah ("he was struck down", H5221) — same root, but perfect tense; marks a completed event, referring back to the specific killing narrated earlier. Both forms share the root nakah (H5221) but differ in aspect: participle (durative/descriptive state) versus perfect (completed act).
- ne.Si' ("a leader of", H5387A) — masculine singular construct noun; grammatically bound to what follows, meaning "a leader of [something]," here introducing his title within his lineage.
- beit-'av ("a house of a father", H1004M + H0001G) — construct chain meaning literally "house of a father," an idiom for an ancestral family unit or clan.
- shim.'o.Ni ("Simeonite", H8099) — gentilic adjective marking tribal affiliation, attached with the preposition-article la- ("of the", H9005), giving "of the Simeonite[s]."
What the text says
The verse opens with ve.shem ("and [the] name of", H8034) in construct with 'ish Yisra'El ("[the] man of Israel", H0376G + H3478), a construct chain meaning "the name of the man of Israel." This man is further specified by a relative clause built on two forms of the same verbal root H5221 ("to strike"): first the participle ha.mukKeh ("who was struck down"), then the finite verb 'a.Sher huk.Kah ("who was struck down") governing the phrase 'et ha.mid.ya.Nit ("with the Midianite [woman]", H0854 + H4084). This repetition of the same root in two different verbal forms creates emphasis on the fact of being struck down, first as a description and then as a narrated event.
The name zim.Ri ("Zimri", H2174G) is then given in apposition, followed by the patronymic ben Sa.Lu' ("son of Salu", H1121A + H5543C). The final clause piles up construct nouns — ne.Si' beit-'av ("a leader of a house of a father") — before closing with the gentilic la.shim.'o.Ni ("of the Simeonite", H9005 + H8099), identifying Zimri's leadership position within a specific ancestral household belonging to the tribe of Simeon.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders ben Sa.Lu' ("son of Salu") as "υἱὸς Σαλμών" (son of Salmon), differing from the Hebrew name Sa.Lu' (H5543C). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew form more closely with "filius Salu."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.