Numbers 25:18
כִּי צֹרְרִים הֵם לָכֶם בְּנִכְלֵיהֶם אֲשֶׁר־נִכְּלוּ לָכֶם עַל־דְּבַר־פְּעוֹר וְעַל־דְּבַר כָּזְבִּי בַת־נְשִׂיא מִדְיָן אֲחֹתָם הַמֻּכָּה בְיוֹם־הַמַּגֵּפָה עַל־דְּבַר־פְּעֽוֹר׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
כִּ֣י צֹרְרִ֥ים הֵם֙ לָכֶ֔ם בְּנִכְלֵיהֶ֛ם אֲשֶׁר־נִכְּל֥וּ לָכֶ֖ם עַל־דְּבַר־פְּע֑וֹר וְעַל־דְּבַ֞ר כָּזְבִּ֨י בַת־נְשִׂ֤יא מִדְיָן֙ אֲחֹתָ֔ם הַמֻּכָּ֥ה בְיוֹם־הַמַּגֵּפָ֖ה עַל־דְּבַר־פְּעֽוֹר׃
ὅτι ἐχθραίνουσιν αὐτοὶ ὑμῖν ἐν δολιότητι, ὅσα; δολιοῦσιν ὑμᾶς διὰ Φογώρ, κα διὰ Χασβεὶ θυγατέρα ἄρχοντος Μαδιὰν ἀδελφὴν αὐτῶν, τὴν πεπληγυῖαν ἐν τῆ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς πληγῆς διὰ Φογώρ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
quia et ipsi hostiliter egerunt contra vos, et decepere insidiis per idolum Phogor, et Cozbi filiam ducis Madian sororem suam, quæ percussa est in die plagæ pro sacrilegio Phogor.
porque ellos los atacaron a ustedes con sus engaños. Los engañaron en el asunto de Peor y en el caso de Cozbi, la hija del líder madianita, que fue asesinada el día de la plaga causada por lo de Peor”.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Por cuanto ellos os afligieron á vosotros con sus ardides, con que os han engañado en el negocio de Peor, y en el negocio de Cozbi, hija del príncipe de Madián, su hermana, la cual fué muerta el día de la mortandad por causa de Peor.
For they assailed you deceitfully when they seduced you in the matter of Peor and their sister Cozbi, the daughter of the Midianite leader, the woman who was killed on the day the plague came because of Peor.”
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse gives the reason (introduced by ki, "for") for hostility toward the Midianites: they acted as harassers against Israel through deception connected to the incident at Peor, involving Cozbi, daughter of a Midianite chief, who was struck down on the day of the plague.
Key words
- tzo.re.Rim ("[are] opposers", H6887D) — qal participle, masculine plural, describing an ongoing characteristic ("they are ones who harass") rather than a single past act.
- nikh.lei.Hem ("their deceitfulness/deceits", H5231 + H9028) — construct plural noun with pronominal suffix, "deceits of them," paired with the following verb from the same root.
- ni.ke.Lu ("they dealt deceptively", H5230) — piel perfect, intensive stem marking deliberate, completed deceptive action, sharing the root נכל with the noun nikh.lei.Hem in verse structure.
- mu.Kah ("was struck down", H5221) — hophal passive participle, feminine singular, agreeing with Cozbi as the one who underwent the striking (passive causative: someone/something caused her to be struck).
- de.var ("[the] matter of", H1697I) — masculine singular construct, repeated three times (Peor, Cozbi, Peor again), structuring the verse around named "matters" or "affairs."
What the text says
The verse opens with the causal particle ki ("for"), linking it to what precedes as an explanation. The subject hem ("they") is emphasized by the participle tzo.re.Rim ("opposers"), a qal participle that presents the Midianites' hostility as a characteristic state rather than a completed event. This is reinforced by the noun-verb pair from the same root נכל: nikh.lei.Hem ("their deceits") and ni.ke.Lu ("they dealt deceptively," piel perfect), creating a figura etymologica (repetition of a root as noun and verb) that intensifies the accusation of deliberate deception.
The sentence then moves through a chain of construct phrases using de.var ("matter of"): first "the matter of Peor," then "the matter of Cozbi," specifying her lineage as bat-nesi' Midyan ("daughter of the leader of Midian") and achotam ("their sister"). The final clause identifies her with the hophal passive participle mu.Kah ("was struck down"), a causative-passive form indicating she underwent a striking caused externally, situated be-yom ha-mmagefah ("on the day of the plague"). The verse closes by repeating al-devar Peor ("concerning the matter of Peor"), forming an inclusio that frames the entire statement around this location/incident.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders nikh.lei.Hem ("their deceits") and ni.ke.Lu ("they dealt deceptively") with the single repeated verb δολιότητι / δολιοῦσιν, preserving the root-repetition effect. The Vulgate introduces per idolum Phogor ("through the idol of Peor") and pro sacrilegio Phogor ("for the sacrilege of Peor"), adding interpretive terms ("idol," "sacrilege") not present in the Hebrew construct phrase devar Pe'or ("matter of Peor"), which itself does not specify idolatry or sacrilege explicitly.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.