Bible Strands
Numbers 25:6
Just then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and the whole congregation of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrative describes a public act occurring at the Tent of Meeting immediately after Moses commands the judges to execute idolaters and before Phinehas rises with a spear. An Israelite man acts openly while Moses and the congregation weep at the entrance.
The words — וְ/הִנֵּ֡ה (ve./hi.Neh) signals sudden narrative interruption with "and/there!", while וַ/יַּקְרֵ֤ב (va/i.yak.Rev) literally means "and/he brought near," emphasizing the deliberate, public nature of the act.
The thread — The congregation's weeping parallels the priests weeping between the porch and altar in Joel 2:17, while the Midianite presence recalls the Moabite-Midianite coalition in Numbers 22:4 and the defiant sin that warrants being cut off in Numbers 15:30.
Why it lands — It demands recognition that public defiance occurs during corporate repentance and establishes the immediate catalyst for divine judgment and zealous intervention.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Cross-references
- Joel 2:17 Let the priests who minister before the LORD weep between the portico and the altar, saying, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your heritage a reproach, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
- Numbers 22:4 So the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will devour everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” Since Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time,
- Numbers 15:30 But the person who sins defiantly, whether a native or foreigner, blasphemes the LORD. That person shall be cut off from among his people.
- Numbers 25:14 The name of the Israelite who was slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family.
- Numbers 31:2 “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”
- Numbers 31:9 The Israelites captured the Midianite women and their children, and they plundered all their herds, flocks, and goods.
- Deuteronomy 29:19 because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.
- Judges 2:4 When the angel of the LORD had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people lifted up their voices and wept.
- Ezra 9:1 After these things had been accomplished, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples whose abominations are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.
- Ezra 10:6 Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and walked to the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. And while he stayed there, he ate no food and drank no water, because he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.