Numbers 25:4

King James Version 1611 (Original)

And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה קַ֚ח אֶת־כָּל־רָאשֵׁ֣י הָעָ֔ם וְהוֹקַ֥ע אוֹתָ֛ם לַיהוָ֖ה נֶ֣גֶד הַשָּׁ֑מֶשׁ וְיָשֹׁ֛ב חֲר֥וֹן אַף־יְהוָ֖ה מִיִּשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

Transliteration

wə-yōʾmer YHWH to-mōšeh qaḥ ʾeṯ-all-rāʾšê the-ʿām wə-hôqaʿ ʾôṯām to-YHWH negeḏ the-šāmeš wə-yāšōḇ ḥărôn ʾap̄-YHWH from-yiśrāʾēl

Grammar Details

• *wə-yōʾmer*: conjunction + Qal imperfect 3rd masculine singular - and said
• *YHWH*: proper noun - the LORD
• *mōšeh*: proper noun with preposition - to Moses
• *qaḥ*: Qal imperative masculine singular - take
• *ʾeṯ*: direct object marker
• *rāʾšê*: common noun, masculine plural construct - heads/leaders of
• *ʿām*: common noun, masculine singular with definite article - the people
• *wə-hôqaʿ*: conjunction + Hiphil imperative masculine singular - and hang/impale
• *ʾôṯām*: direct object marker with 3rd masculine plural suffix - them
• *negeḏ*: preposition - before/in front of
• *šāmeš*: common noun, feminine singular with definite article - the sun
• *wə-yāšōḇ*: conjunction + Qal imperfect 3rd masculine singular - and will turn away
• *ḥărôn*: common noun, masculine singular - fierce/burning
• *ʾap̄*: common noun, masculine singular construct - anger of
• *yiśrāʾēl*: proper noun with preposition - from Israel

Word Meanings

• *rāʾšê*: heads/chiefs/leaders
• *hôqaʿ*: hang/impale/execute publicly
• *negeḏ ha-šāmeš*: before the sun/in broad daylight/publicly
• *ḥărôn ʾap̄*: fierce anger/burning wrath/intense fury

Referenced Verses

• Deut 13:17 : 17 And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;
• Deut 4:3 : 3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
• Deut 21:23 : 23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
• 2 Sam 21:6 : 6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.
• Num 25:11 : 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.
• Num 25:14-15 : 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. 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.
• Num 25:18 : 18 For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake.
• Exod 18:25 : 25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
• 2 Sam 21:9 : 9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.
• Esth 7:9-9 : 9 And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon. 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.
• Ps 85:3-4 : 3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. 4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
• Jonah 3:9 : 9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
• Josh 7:25-26 : 25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. 26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.
• Josh 22:17 : 17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the LORD,
• Josh 23:2 : 2 And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age:
• Deut 13:6-9 : 6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
• Deut 13:13 : 13 Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;
• Deut 13:15 : 15 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.