Person Old Testament
Cozbi
Also known as Cozbi =ESV, KJV; Kozbi =NIV
Cozbi, a Midianite woman, was killed along with an Israelite man for their immorality. Mentioned in 2 verses across 1 book, first at Numbers 25:15.
Why it matters. Midianite woman killed for immorality with an Israelite
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Cozbi
Cozbi was a Midianite woman, the daughter of Zur, a tribal head in Midian. During Israel's stay in Shittim, Cozbi engaged in sexual immorality with Zimri, an Israelite man from the tribe of Simeon. This act of defiance against God's commands occurred in the sight of Moses and the entire congregation of Israel, who were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting due to a plague that had broken out as a result of the people's immorality and idolatry.
Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron the priest, took a spear and followed Zimri into his tent, where he found him with Cozbi. Phinehas drove the spear through both of them, killing them and halting the plague that had claimed the lives of 24,000 Israelites. God commended Phinehas for his zeal and granted him a covenant of perpetual priesthood.
Cozbi's name is mentioned again in Num.25.18, where God instructs Moses to treat the Midianites as enemies and attack them because of their treachery and the incident involving Cozbi, which led Israel into sin.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
No reviewed connections yet.
Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
- Parents
- Zur
Appears in Scripture
Named in 2 verses across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.