What Does Numbers 25:15 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Cozbi’s name echoes the Hebrew root for falsehood, yet the verse’s claim about her is that she was slain.
THE MEANING
The verse keeps Cozbi present as a named person whose life has been taken, and names the father whose rank places her within a powerful household. It holds identity, violence, and power together without explaining her death away.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that a woman in a violent account is only an anonymous casualty: Cozbi’s name remains.
THE ROOT
כָּזְבִּי
Kozbi
GROWS FROM
כזב
k-z-b
To lie or be false; as a noun, falsehood.
Cozbi’s name is commonly connected to כזב, the root for lying and falsehood, and is often glossed “my falsehood.” The verse gives no warrant to turn that name into a judgment about her character; it names her as the woman who was slain.
ALSO GROWS
kazav: Lie, falsehood.
כָּזָב
This noun from the same root appears as “lies” in Proverbs 30:8, connecting the name to the language of what is false.
kazav: To lie, be false, or fail.
כָּזַב
The verbal branch shows the root describing falseness in action or state, but the name alone does not say what Cozbi did.
הַמֻּכָּה
hammukkah
GROWS FROM
נכה
n-k-h
To strike or smite.
The Hebrew identifies her as the one who has been struck; “slain” gives the outcome while the root retains the blow behind it. The wording keeps the physical violence visible instead of making the death abstract.
ALSO GROWS
nakah: To strike, smite.
נָכָה
This verb names the force behind the description of the woman as slain.
makkah: A blow, wound, or plague.
מַכָּה
This noun from the same root makes the physical impact explicit.
THE PATTERN
Violent accounts can keep the victim named and relationally situated even as they describe the act that kills them.
And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.THE THREAD
Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:Cozbi’s name is commonly traced to כזב (k-z-b), the root for lying and falsehood; that same root appears as “lies” here. The shared root opens the name’s sound and sense, while the proverb says nothing about Cozbi’s character.
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