Numbers 24–25

Chapter 24

And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord that he should bless Israel, he went not as he had gone before, to seek divination: but setting his face towards the desert,

²And lifting up his eyes, he saw Israel abiding in their tents by their tribes: and the spirit of God rushing upon him,

³He took up his parable and said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man hath said, whose eye is stopped up:

⁴The bearer of the words of God hath said, he that hath beheld the vision of the Almighty, he that falleth, and so his eyes are opened:

⁵How beautiful are thy tabernacles O Jacob, and thy tents, O Israel!

⁶As woody valleys, as watered gardens near the rivers, as tabernacles which the Lord hath pitched, as cedars by the waterside.

⁷Water shall flow out of his bucket, and his seed shall be in many waters. For Agag his king shall be removed, and his kingdom shall be taken away.

⁸God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros. They shall devour the nations that are his enemies, and break their bones, and pierce them with arrows.

⁹Lying down he hath slept as a lion, and as a lioness, whom none shall dare to rouse. He that blesseth thee, shall also himself be blessed: he that curseth thee shall be reckoned accursed.

¹⁰And Balac being angry against Balaam, clapped his hands together and said: I called thee to curse my enemies, and thou on the contrary hast blessed them three times.

¹¹Return to thy place. I had determined indeed greatly to honour thee, but the Lord hath deprived thee of the honour designed for thee.

¹²Balaam made answer to Balac: Did I not say to thy messengers, whom thou sentest to me:

¹³If Balac would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to utter any thing of my own head either good or evil: but whatsoever the Lord shall say, that I will speak?

¹⁴But yet going to my people, I will give thee counsel, what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.

¹⁵Therefore taking up his parable, again he said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man whose eye is stopped up, hath said:

¹⁶The hearer of the words of God hath said, who knoweth the doctrine of the Highest, and seeth the visions of the Almighty, who falling hath his eyes opened:

¹⁷I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near. A STAR SHALL RISE out of Jacob and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel: and shall strike the chiefs of Moab, and shall waste all the children of Seth

¹⁸And he shall possess Idumea: the inheritance of Seir shall come to their enemies, but Israel shall do manfully.

¹⁹Out of Jacob shall he come that shall rule, and shall destroy the remains of the city.

²⁰And when he saw Amalec, he took up his parable, and said: Amalec the beginning of nations, whose latter ends shall be destroyed.

²¹He saw also the Cinite: and took up his parable, and said: Thy habitation indeed is strong: but though thou build thy nest in a rock,

²²And thou be chosen of the stock of Cin, how long shalt thou be able to continue? For Assur shall take thee captive.

²³And taking up his parable, again he said: Alas, who shall live when God shall do these things?

²⁴They shall come in galleys from Italy, they shall overcome the Assyrians, and shall waste the Hebrews, and at the last they themselves also shall perish.

²⁵And Balaam rose, and returned to his place: Balac also returned the way that he came.

Chapter 25

And Israel at that time abode in Settim, and the people committed fornication with the daughters of Moab,

²Who called them to their sacrifices. And they ate of them, and adored their gods.

³And Israel was initiated to Beelphegor: upon which the Lord being angry,

⁴Said to Moses: Take all the princes of the people, and hang them up on gibbets against the sun: that my fury may be turned away from Israel.

⁵And Moses said to the judges of Israel: Let every man kill his neighbours, that have been initiated to Beelphegor.

⁶And behold one of the children of Israel went in before his brethren to a harlot of Madian, in the sight of Moses and of all the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle.

⁷And when Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose up from the midst of the multitude, and taking a dagger,

⁸Went in after the Israelite into the brothel house, and thrust both of them through together, to wit, the man and the woman in the genital parts. And the scourge ceased from the children of Israel.

⁹And there were slain four and twenty thousand men.

¹⁰And the Lord said to Moses:

¹¹Phinees 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.

¹²Therefore say to him: behold I give him the peace of my covenant,

¹³And the covenant of the priesthood for ever shall be both to him and his seed, because he hath been zealous for his God, and hath made atonement for the wickedness of the children of Israel.

¹⁴And the name of the Israelite, that was slain with the woman of Madian, was Zambri the son of Salu, a prince of the kindred and tribe of Simeon.

¹⁵And the Madianite woman, that was slain with him, was called Cozbi the daughter of Sur, a most noble prince among the Madianites.

¹⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

¹⁷Let the Madianites find you their enemies, and slay you them:

¹⁸Because they also have acted like enemies against you, and have guilefully deceived you by the idol Phogor, and Cozbi their sister, a daughter of a prince of Madian, who was slain in the day of the plague for the sacrilege of Phogor.