Numbers 25 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 25:3, 25:4, 25:5, 25:6, 25:8, 25:15
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Numbers 25
Israel’s Apostasy
Israel's Betrayal
Verse 25:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:1 Israel stayed at Shittim, and the people began to engage in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:1 Israel lodged at Shittim, and the people profaned themselves by engaging in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab.
Classification & Notes
Different
Began / profaned themselves makes the Greek's cultic judgment explicit.
Verse 25:2 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Different
Gods / idols gives the objects of worship a different designation; Greek explicitly identifies the food as sacrificial.
Verse 25:3 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:3 Israel joined itself to Baal of Peor, and YHWH's anger burned against Israel.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:3 Israel was initiated into the worship of Baal of Peor, and the Lord became angry with Israel.
Classification & Notes
Disparate
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
Verse 25:4 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Disparate
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.
Verse 25:5 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Disparate
Judges / tribes and their men / one's kinsman changes the addressed agents and targets of execution.
Verse 25:6 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Disparate
Bringing a woman to his brothers / bringing his brother to the woman reverses the participants' roles. Meeting / Testimony also differs.
Verse 25:7 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Different weapon vocabulary preserves the same intervention.
Verse 25:8 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Disparate
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.
Verse 25:9 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:9 Those who died in the plague numbered twenty-four thousand.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:9 Those who died in the plague numbered twenty-four thousand.
Classification & Notes
Same
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
Verse 25:10 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:10 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying:
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:10 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
Classification & Notes
Same
Verse 25:11 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Same
Verse 25:12 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:12 Therefore say: Look, I give him My covenant of peace.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:12 Therefore say: Look, I give him a covenant of peace.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Greek lacks Hebrew's possessive “My” before covenant.
Verse 25:13 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Similar
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
Verse 25:14 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Same
Verse 25:15 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Disparate
Hebrew 'ummot, “clans,” is represented as Ommoth, a named nation, in Greek.
Verse 25:16 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:16 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying:
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:16 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel, saying:
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Greek adds an instruction to address Israel.
Verse 25:17 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:17 Treat the Midianites as enemies and strike them,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:17 Be hostile to the Midianites and strike them,
Classification & Notes
Same
Verse 25:18 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (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–English: Literal-Smooth (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.
Classification & Notes
Similar
The Hebrew refers to the completed scheming; Greek describes their continuing deceit. The shared “sister” denotes kinship with the Midianites.