The Wilderness Years

nevertheless, 24,000 died in the plague.

ADONAI said to Moshe,

"Pinchas the son of El'azar, the son of Aharon the cohen, has deflected my anger from the people of Isra'el by being as zealous as I am, so that I didn't destroy them in my own zeal.

Therefore say, 'I am giving him my covenant of shalom,

making a covenant with him and his descendants after him that the office of cohen will be theirs forever.'This is because he was zealous on behalf of his God and made atonement for the people of Isra'el."

The name of the man from Isra'el who was killed, put to death with the woman from Midyan, was Zimri the son of Salu, leader of one of the clans from the tribe of Shim'on.

The name of the woman from Midyan who was killed was Kozbi the daughter of Tzur, and he was head of the people in one of the clans of Midyan.

ADONAI said to Moshe,

"Treat the Midyanim as enemies and attack them;

because they are treating you as enemies by the trickery they used to deceive you in the P'or incident and in the affair of their sister Kozbi, the daughter of the leader from Midyan, the woman who was killed on the day of the plague in the P'or incident."

After the plague, 26 1 ADONAI said to Moshe and El'azar, the son of Aharon the cohen,

"Take a census of the entire assembly of the people of Isra'el twenty years old and over, by their ancestral clans, all who are subject to military service in Isra'el."

Moshe and El'azar the cohen spoke with them on the plains of Mo'av by the Yarden across from Yericho, explaining,

"Those twenty years old and over who came out of the land of Egypt, as ADONAI ordered Moshe and the people of Isra'el."

[The census results begin with] Re'uven, the firstborn of Isra'el. The descendants of Re'uven were: of Hanokh, the family of the Hanokhi; of Pallu, the family of the Pallu'i;

of Hetzron, the family of the Hetzroni; and of Karmi the family of the Karmi.

These were the the families of the Re'uveni; of them were counted 43,730.

The sons of Pallu: Eli'av;

and the sons of Eli'av: N'mu'el, Datan and Aviram. These are the same Datan and Aviram, men of reputation in the community, who rebelled against Moshe and Aharon in Korach's group, when they rebelled against ADONAI;

and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korach when that group died, and the fire consumed 250 men, and they became a warning sign.

(However, the sons of Korach did not die.)

The descendants of Shim'on, by their families, were: of N'mu'el, the family of the N'mu'eli; of Yamin, the family of the Yamini; of Yakhin, the family of the Yakhini;

of Zerach, the family of the Zarchi; and of Sha'ul, the family of the Sha'uli.

These were the families of the Shim'oni, 22,200.

The descendants of Gad, by their families, were: of Tz'fon, the family of the Tz'foni; of Haggi, the family of the Haggi; of Shuni, the family of the Shuni;