What Does Numbers 25:14 Mean in the King James?

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.

Numbers 25:14 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The verse names Zimri’s leadership and family alongside his death, keeping him visible as a person rooted in a tribe.

THE MEANING

You meet Zimri as both the man slain with the Midianitish woman and the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites. The verse holds his death and his place in the community together.

THE ROOT

נְשִׂיא

nāśîʾ

GROWS FROM

נשא

n-ś-ʾ

To lift, carry, or bear.

The title for Zimri is built from a root meaning to lift or carry, and the verse identifies him as head of an ancestral house. That adds the sense of someone elevated to public leadership beneath the English word “prince.”

ALSO GROWS

nāśāʾ: To lift, carry, or bear.

נָשָׂא

This verb makes the root’s lifting and carrying sense audible beneath the title of leader.

maśśāʾ: A burden or load.

מַשָּׂא

This noun shares the root’s carrying sense and shows the word family beneath Zimri’s leadership title.

זִמְרִי

Zimrî

GROWS FROM

זמר

z-m-r

To sing or make music.

Zimri’s name is commonly linked with ⁨זמר⁩, to sing or make music; the verse itself does not explain the name, so this is an echo rather than an explanation of his death. The name’s musical root sits beneath the stark account of his death and the precise details of his family and tribe.

ALSO GROWS

zāmar: To sing or make music.

זָמַר

This verb is the root commonly associated with Zimri’s name.

zemîrāh: A song or melody.

זְמִרָה

This noun makes the song and music sense of the same root concrete.

THE PATTERN

The text makes communal rupture concrete by naming people and locating them through lineage, relationship, or public role.

But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.

Joshua 7:1 · KJVAchan’s act is attached to his lineage and tribe, placing an individual’s deed within the life of the whole community.

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Acts 5:1-2 · KJVThe account names Ananias and Sapphira and identifies their relationship as it describes their shared act within the assembly.

But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

Revelation 2:14 · KJVThe text names Balaam and Balac and connects their roles to a stumblingblock placed before the community.

THE THREAD

These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.

Numbers 1:16 · KJV

The Hebrew title translated “princes” here shares the root ⁨נשא⁩ with Zimri’s title in Numbers 25:14. Numbers 1:16 uses it for tribal heads, making clear that Zimri’s title marks a public role grounded in his ancestral house and tribe.

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