Numbers 25–26

The Plague of Israel

25When Israel dwelled in Shittim, the people began to prostitute^a themselves with the daughters of Moab. ²And they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and worshiped their gods. ³So Israel was joined together to Baal Peor, and Yahweh became angry^b with Israel. ⁴Yahweh said to Moses, “Take all the leaders^c of the people and hang them before Yahweh in the sun, so the fierce anger of Yahweh will turn from Israel.” ⁵So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill his men who are joined together with Baal Peor.”

⁶And behold, a man from the Israelites^d came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of all of the community of the Israelites,^e and they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of assembly. ⁷When Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest saw, he got up from the midst of the community and took a spear in his hand. ⁸He went after the man of Israel into the woman’s section of the tent, and he drove the two of them, the man of Israel and the woman, into her belly. And the plague among the Israelites^f stopped. ⁹The ones who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

¹⁰Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹“Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, turned away my anger from among the Israelites^g when he was jealous with my jealousy in their midst, and I did not destroy the Israelites^h with my jealousy. ¹²Therefore say, ‘Behold, I am giving to him my covenant of peace, ¹³and it will be for him and his offspringⁱ after him a covenant of an eternal priesthood because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.’ ”^j

¹⁴The name of the man of Israel who was struck with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, a leader of the family^k of the Simeonites.^{l 15}The name of the Midianite woman who was struck was Cozbi daughter of Zur, a leader^m of a tribe of the familyⁿ in Midian.

¹⁶Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷“Attack the Midianites and strike them ¹⁸because they were attacking you with their deception, with which they have deceived you on the matter of Peor and on the matter of Cozbi the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was struck on the day of the plague because of the matter of Peor.”

A New Census

26^a And it happened after the plague, ^b​Yahweh said to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saying, ²“Take a census^c of the community of the Israelites^d from those twenty years old^e and above, according to their families,^f all who are able to go out to war in Israel.” ³So Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them on the desert-plateau of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, saying, ⁴“Take a census of the community from those twenty years old^g and above, just as Yahweh commanded Moses.”

The Israelites who went out from the land of Egypt were:

⁵Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, the descendants^h of Reuben: of Hanoch, the clan of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the clan of the Palluites;^{i 6}of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites;^j of Carmi, the clan of the Carmites.^{k 7}These are the clans of the Reubenites,^l and the ones counted of them were forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty. ⁸The children of Pallu: Eliab. ⁹The children of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are the same Dathan and Abiram who were appointed of the community, who rebelled against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they rebelled against Yahweh, ¹⁰and the land opened its mouth and swallowed them with Korah, when that company died, when the fire consumed two hundred and fifty men, and they were a sign.^{m 11}The childrenⁿ of Korah, however, did not die.

¹²The descendants^o of Simeon, according to their clans: of Nemuel, the clan of the Nemuelites;^p of Jamin, the clan of the Jaminites;^q of Jakin, the clan of the Jakinites;^{r 13}of Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites;^s of Shaul, the clan of the Shaulites.^{t 14}These were the clans of the Simeonites,^u twenty-two thousand two hundred.

¹⁵The descendants^v of Gad according to their clans: of Zephon, the clan of the Zephonites;^w of Haggi, the clan of the Haggites;^x of Shuni, the clan of the Shunites;^{y 16}of Ozni, the clan of the Oznites;^z of Eri, the clan of the Erites;^{a 17}of Arod, the clan of the Arodites;^b of Areli, the clan of the Arelites;^{c 18}These were the clans of the descendants^d of Gad according to the ones counted of them, forty thousand five hundred.

¹⁹The sons of Judah: Er and Onan; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. ²⁰The descendants^e of Judah according to their clans were: of Shelah, the clan of the Shelanites;^f of Perez, the clan of the Perezites;^g of Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites.^{h 21}The children of Perez were: of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites;ⁱ of Hamul, the clan of the Hamulites.^{j 22}These were the clans of Judah according to the ones counted of them, seventy-six thousand five hundred.

²³The descendants^k of Issachar according to their clans: of Tola, the clan of the Tolaites;^l of Puvah, the clan of the Punites;^{m 24}of Jashub, the clans of the Jashubites;ⁿ of Shimron, the clan of the Shimronites.^{o 25}These were the clans of Issachar according to the ones counted of them, sixty-four thousand three hundred.

²⁶The descendants^p of Zebulun according to their clans: of Sered, the clan of the Seredites;^q of Elon, the clan of the Elonites;^r of Jahleel, the clan of the Jahleelites.^{s 27}These were the clans of the Zebulunites^t according to the ones counted of them, sixty thousand five hundred.

²⁸The descendants^u of Joseph according to their clans: Manasseh and Ephraim. ²⁹The descendants^v of Manasseh: of Makir, the clan of the Makirites.^w And Makir fathered Gilead; of Gilead, the clan of the Gileadites.^{x 30}These were the descendants^y of Gilead: of Iezer, the clan of the Iezerites;^z of Helek, the clan of the Helekites;^{a 31}and of Asriel, the clan of the Asrielites;^b and of Shechem, the clan of the Shechemites;^{c 32}and of Shemida, the clan of the Shemidaites;^d and of Hepher, the clan of the Hepherites.^{e 33}Zelophehad son of Hepher did not have sons, but only daughters; and the names^f of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ³⁴These were the clans of Manasseh, and the ones counted of them were fifty-two thousand seven hundred.

³⁵These were the descendants^g of Ephraim according to their clans: of Shuthelah, the clan of the Shuthelahites;^h of Beker, the clan of the Bekerites;ⁱ of Tahan, the clan of the Tahanites.^{j 36}And these were the descendants^k of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the Eranites.^{l 37}These were the clans of the descendants^m of Ephraim according to the ones counted of them, thirty-two thousand five hundred. These were the descendantsⁿ of Joseph according to their clans.

³⁸The descendants^o of Benjamin according to their clans: of Bela, the clan of the Belaites;^p of Ashbel, the clan of the Ashbelites;^q of Ahiram, the clan of the Ahiramites;^{r 39}of Shephupham, the clan of the Shuphamites;^s of Hupham, the clan of the Huphamites.^{t 40}The sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the clan of the Ardites;^u of Naaman, the clan of the Naamites.^{v 41}These were the descendants^w of Benjamin according to their clans. And the ones counted of them were forty-five thousand six hundred.

⁴²These were the descendants^x of Dan according to their clans: of Shuham, the clan of the Shuhamites.^y These were the clans of Dan according to their clans. ⁴³All the clans of the Shuhamites,^z according to the ones counted of them, were sixty-four thousand four hundred.

⁴⁴The descendants^a of Asher according to their clans: of Imnah, the clan of the Imnahites;^b of Ishvi, the clan of the Ishvites;^c of Beriah, the clan of the Beriahites.^{d 45}The descendants^e of Beriah: of Heber, the clan of the Heberites;^f of Malkiel, the clan of the Malkielites.^{g 46}The name of the daughter of Asher was Serah. ⁴⁷These were the clans of the descendants^h of Asher according to the ones counted of them, fifty-three thousand four hundred.

⁴⁸The descendantsⁱ of Naphtali according to their clans: of Jahzeel, the clan of the Jahzeelites;^j of Guni, the clan of the Gunites;^{k 49}of Jezer, the clan of the Jezerites;^l of Shillem, the clan of the Shillemites.^{m 50}These were the clans of Naphtali according to their clans, the ones counted of them, forty-five thousand four hundred.

⁵¹These were the ones counted of the Israelites,ⁿ six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty.

⁵²Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁵³“For these the land must be divided as an inheritance according to the number of names. ⁵⁴For the larger group you must increase their inheritance, and for the smaller group you must make smaller their inheritance; each must be given their^o inheritance according to the number of the ones counted of them. ⁵⁵Surely the land will be divided by lot. They will inherit according to the names of the tribes of their ancestors.^{p 56}Their^q inheritance must be divided according to the lot between the larger and smaller groups.”

⁵⁷These are the ones counted of the Levites according to their clans: of Gershon, the clan of the Gershonites;^r of Kohath, the clan of the Kohathites;^s of Merari, the clan of the Merarites.^{t 58}These are the clans of Levi: the clan of the Libnites,^u the clan of the Hebronites,^v the clan of the Mahlites,^w the clan of the Mushites,^x the clan of the Korahites.^y Kohath fathered Amram. ⁵⁹The name of the wife of Amram was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whose mother bore her for Levi in Egypt; she bore to Amram: Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriam. ⁶⁰To Aaron were born Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ⁶¹But Nadab and Abihu died when they presented strange fire before^z Yahweh. ⁶²The ones counted were twenty-three thousand, every male from a month old^a and above, because they were not counted in the midst of the Israelites^b since no inheritance was given to them in the midst of the Israelites.^c

⁶³These were the ones counted by Moses and…