Passage

Numbers 25.11-13

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"9. And those that died by the plague were twenty and four thousand. 10. And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,"

"11. Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: 13. and it shall be unto him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel."

"14. Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers' house among the Simeonites. 15. And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a fathers' house in Midian." (Numbers 25:9-15, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"9. Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand. 10. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,"

"11. “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace. 13. It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’”"

"14. Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers’ house among the Simeonites. 15. The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur. He was head of the people of a fathers’ house in Midian." (Numbers 25:9-15, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"9. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. 10. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,"

"11. Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. ^{for: Heb. with my zeal} 12. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: 13. And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel."

"14. Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites. ^{chief: Heb. house of a father} 15. And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian." (Numbers 25:9-15, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"9. and the dead by the plague are four and twenty thousand. 10. And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,"

"11. 'Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, hath turned back My fury from the sons of Israel, by his being zealous with My zeal in their midst, and I have not consumed the sons of Israel in My zeal. 12. 'Therefore say, Lo, I am giving to him My covenant of peace, 13. and it hath been to him and to his seed after him a covenant of a priesthood age-during, because that he hath been zealous for his God, and doth make atonement for the sons of Israel.'"

"14. And the name of the man of Israel who is smitten, who hath been smitten with the Midianitess, [is] Zimri son of Salu, prince of the house of a father of the Simeonite; 15. and the name of the woman who is smitten, the Midianitess, [is] Cozbi daughter of Zur, head of a people, of the house of a father in Midian [is] he." (Numbers 25:9-15, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: YHWH speaking to Moses about Phinehas's act at Baal-Peor
Audience: Moses; through Moses, Israel and the Aaronic priesthood
Location: Shittim, in the plains of Moab opposite Jericho
Time period: the end of the wilderness era, just before the entry into Canaan (c. 1406 BC early-date)

Theological reading

Numbers 25:11-13 is the OT canonical exemplar of human covenantal qana approved by God. The narrative: Israel falls into sexual-and-cultic syncretism with the Moabites at Baal-Peor; the priest Phinehas takes a spear and kills the offending Israelite man (Zimri) and the Moabite woman (Cozbi) in flagrante; YHWH responds by stopping the plague and granting Phinehas a "covenant of peace" and "covenant of an everlasting priesthood." The theological move is structurally maximal: the divine attribute qinʾah (jealousy / zeal) is participated in by a human covenant-mediator. The verb qinno ("he was jealous") is repeated three times in three verses for emphasis: "he was jealous with my jealousy... in my jealousy... because he was jealous for his God." Phinehas's zeal is God's zeal enacted through him. The verse pattern, covenant-violation, divine-jealousy-response, human-mediator-zeal, atonement, covenant-of-peace, becomes a template Paul activates in Galatians 4:18 and the NT zēloō deployment (2 Cor 11:2). The episode also exemplifies the marriage-covenant frame in which all biblical divine-qana operates: Baal-Peor is spiritual adultery punished as marital infidelity (cf. Num 5:11-31's Sotah ordeal, which uses the same ruach qinʾah vocabulary).

Key words

H7065 - qana, qanaʾ / qinno (Strong's H7065). The verbal root deployed three times in this passage.
H7068 - qinah, qinʾah (Strong's H7068). The cognate noun.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.