Numbers 25:11
Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel: because he was moved with my zeal against them, that I myself might not destroy the children of Israel in my zeal.
Open Numbers 25:11 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →In the palace
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Phinees filius Eleazari filii Aaron sacerdotis avertit iram meam a filiis Israël : quia zelo meo commotus est contra eos, ut non ipse delerem filios Israël in zelo meo.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Φινεὲς υἱὸς Ἐλεαζὰρ υἱὸς Ἀαρὼν τοῦ ἱερέως κατέπαυσεν τὸν θυμόν μου ἀπὸ υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ἐν τῷ ζηλῶσαί μου τὸν ζῆλον ἐν αὐτοῖς, καὶ οὐκ ἐξανήλωσα τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ ἐν τῷ ζήλῳ μου.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- פִּֽינְחָ֨ס בֶּן אֶלְעָזָ֜ר בֶּן אַהֲרֹ֣ן הַכֹּהֵ֗ן הֵשִׁ֤יב אֶת חֲמָתִי֙ מֵעַ֣ל בְּנֵֽי יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בְּקַנְא֥וֹ אֶת קִנְאָתִ֖י בְּתוֹכָ֑ם וְלֹא כִלִּ֥יתִי אֶת בְּנֵֽי יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בְּקִנְאָתִֽי
The Fathers on this verse
St John Chrysostom An Exhortation to Theodore After His Fall, Letter II
“Marriage is right,” you say; I also assent to this. For “marriage,” we read, “is honourable and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge;” but it is no longer possible for thee to observe the right conditions of marriage. For if he who has been attached to a heavenly bridegroom deserts him, and joins himself to a wife the act is adultery, even if you call it marriage ten thousand times over; or rather it is worse than adultery in proportion as God is greater than man. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Matthew X. 34
But if any think these things intolerable, let them be reminded of an ancient history. For in times of old also this came to pass, which thing especially shows the old covenant to be akin to the new, and Him who is here speaking, the same with the giver of those commands. I mean that in the case of the Jews also, when each had slain his neighbor, then He laid aside His anger against them; both when they made the calf, and when they were joined to Baal Peor. Where then are they that say, “That God is evil, and this good?” For behold He hath filled the world with blood, shed by kinsmen. Nevertheless even this we affirm to be a work of great love towards man.
Aphrahat Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations, Of Monks
3. For it was through Eve that he came in upon Adam, and Adam was enticed because of his inexperience. And again he came in against Joseph through his master’s wife, but Joseph was acquainted with his craftiness and would not afford him a hearing. Through a woman he fought with Samson, until he took away his Nazariteship. Reuben was the first-born of all his brethren, and through his father’s wife, (the adversary) cast a blemish upon him. Aaron was the great high-priest of the house of Israel, and through Miriam his sister he envied Moses. Moses was sent to deliver the people from Egypt, and took with him the woman who advised him to shameful acts, and the Lord met with Moses, and desired to slay him, till he sent back his wife to Midian. David was victorious in all his battles, yet through means of a daughter of Eve there was found a blemish in him. …
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).