Numbers 25 — Hebrew and Greek compared
↠Numbers 24 compared · Reading text of Numbers 25 · Numbers: all chapters · Numbers 26 compared →
Same 5 Similar 3 Different 2 Divergent 2 Disparate 6
Disparate in this chapter: 25:3, 25:4, 25:5, 25:6, 25:8, 25:15
Each verse is rendered independently from the Hebrew (Rabbinic reading tradition) and from the Greek (Saints reading tradition). The badge classifies the relationship between the two readings; the note beneath records the source document’s comparison and attributed interpretation. Each column retains its own verse references where numbering differs.
Israel's Betrayal
25:1 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:1 Israel stayed at Shittim, and the people began to engage in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab.
Greek · Saints priority
25:1 Israel lodged at Shittim, and the people profaned themselves by engaging in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab.
Began / profaned themselves makes the Greek's cultic judgment explicit.
25:2 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:2 The women invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods.
Greek · Saints priority
25:2 They invited them to the sacrifices of their idols. The people ate from their sacrifices and bowed down to their idols.
Gods / idols gives the objects of worship a different designation; Greek explicitly identifies the food as sacrificial.
25:3 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:3 Israel joined itself to Baal of Peor, and YHWH's anger burned against Israel.
Greek · Saints priority
25:3 Israel was initiated into the worship of Baal of Peor, and the Lord became angry with Israel.
Joining / initiation gives the Greek attachment an explicit cultic form. It does not supply the details of a later mystery rite.
The Divine Command for Execution
25:4 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:4 YHWH said to Moses: Take all the leaders of the people and expose them to YHWH in full sunlight, so that YHWH's burning anger may turn away from Israel.
Greek · Saints priority
25:4 The Lord said to Moses: Take all the leaders of the people and make a public example of them before the Lord in the sunlight, and the Lord's fierce anger will turn away from Israel.
Hebrew hoqa' denotes public exposure in a punitive, likely execution context; Greek paradeigmatizon stresses public exemplary punishment without specifying its method. The referent of “them†requires interpretation.
25:5 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:5 Moses said to Israel's judges: Each of you shall kill his men who joined themselves to Baal of Peor.
Greek · Saints priority
25:5 Moses said to Israel's tribes: Each of you shall kill his own kinsman who was initiated into the worship of Baal of Peor.
Judges / tribes and their men / one's kinsman changes the addressed agents and targets of execution.
25:6 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:6 An Israelite man came and brought a Midianite woman to his brothers before the eyes of Moses and the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
Greek · Saints priority
25:6 An Israelite man came and brought his brother to the Midianite woman before Moses and the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Testimony.
Bringing a woman to his brothers / bringing his brother to the woman reverses the participants' roles. Meeting / Testimony also differs.
25:7 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:7 Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, rose from among the congregation, and took a spear in his hand.
Greek · Saints priority
25:7 Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, rose from among the congregation, and took a lance in his hand.
Different weapon vocabulary preserves the same intervention.
25:8 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:8 He went after the Israelite man into the chamber and pierced both of them, the Israelite man and the woman, through her belly. The plague against the sons of Israel stopped.
Greek · Saints priority
25:8 He went after the Israelite man into the furnace and stabbed both of them, the Israelite man and the woman, through her womb. The plague against the sons of Israel stopped.
Chamber / furnace and belly / womb are substantive lexical differences. Hebrew qubbah and Greek kaminos are unusual in this setting; the Greek location is not silently changed into a tent.
25:9 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:9 Those who died in the plague numbered twenty-four thousand.
Greek · Saints priority
25:9 Those who died in the plague numbered twenty-four thousand.
Both texts have 24,000. Paul's 23,000 in one day at 1 Corinthians 10:8 is a separate reception comparison, not an MT–LXX difference here.
Apostolic reception: Paul’s warning about sexual wrongdoing names 23,000 deaths in one day. Both source texts of Numbers here have 24,000. This is a difference involving later reception, not a Hebrew–Greek disagreement in this verse.
Source: 1 Corinthians 10:8
The Covenant of Everlasting Priesthood
25:10 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:10 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying:
Greek · Saints priority
25:10 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
25:11 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:11 Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned My wrath away from the sons of Israel by being zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the sons of Israel in My jealousy.
Greek · Saints priority
25:11 Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has stopped My wrath against the sons of Israel by being zealous with My zeal among them, and I did not consume the sons of Israel in My jealousy.
25:12 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:12 Therefore say: Look, I give him My covenant of peace.
Greek · Saints priority
25:12 Therefore say: Look, I give him a covenant of peace.
Greek lacks Hebrew's possessive “My†before covenant.
25:13 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:13 It shall be for him and his offspring after him a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.
Greek · Saints priority
25:13 It shall be for him and his offspring after him a perpetual covenant of priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made propitiation for the sons of Israel.
The priestly covenant and the action on Israel’s behalf agree. Atonement / propitiation is a contextual translation choice and does not by itself establish competing doctrines.
Orders of War
25:14 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:14 The name of the Israelite man struck down with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, a leader of an ancestral house among the Simeonites.
Greek · Saints priority
25:14 The name of the Israelite man struck down with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, a ruler of an ancestral house of Simeon.
25:15 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:15 The name of the Midianite woman who was struck down was Cozbi daughter of Zur, who was head of clans, an ancestral house in Midian.
Greek · Saints priority
25:15 The name of the Midianite woman who was struck down was Cozbi daughter of Zur, a ruler of the nation of Ommoth, an ancestral house of Midian.
Hebrew 'ummot, “clans,†is represented as Ommoth, a named nation, in Greek.
25:16 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:16 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying:
Greek · Saints priority
25:16 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel, saying:
Greek adds an instruction to address Israel.
25:17 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:17 Treat the Midianites as enemies and strike them,
Greek · Saints priority
25:17 Be hostile to the Midianites and strike them,
25:18 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
25:18 for they treat you as enemies through the schemes by which they deceived you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, daughter of a Midianite leader, their sister, who was struck down on the day of the plague because of Peor.
Greek · Saints priority
25:18 for they are hostile to you through the deceit by which they deceive you because of Peor and because of Cozbi, daughter of a Midianite ruler, their sister, who was struck down on the day of the plague because of Peor.
The Hebrew refers to the completed scheming; Greek describes their continuing deceit. The shared “sister†denotes kinship with the Midianites.
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Saints Translation · Companion comparison edition · working draft awaiting specialist review.