Numbers 24–26

24By now Balaam knew that the Lord wanted him to bless the people of Israel, so he did not go to look for omens, as he had done before. He turned towards the desert ²and saw the people of Israel camped tribe by tribe. The spirit of God took control of him, ³and he uttered this prophecy:

“The message of Balaam son of Beor,

The words of the man who can see clearly,^z

⁴Who can hear what God is saying.

With staring eyes I see in a trance

A vision from Almighty God.

⁵The tents of Israel are beautiful,

⁶Like long rows of palms

Or gardens beside a river,

Like aloes planted by the Lord

Or cedars beside the water.

⁷They will have abundant rainfall

And plant their seed in well-watered fields.^a

Their king shall be greater than Agag,

And his rule shall be extended far and wide.

⁸God brought them out of Egypt;

He fights for them like a wild ox.

They devour their enemies,

Crush their bones, smash their arrows.

^9*The nation is like a mighty lion;

When it is sleeping, no one dares wake it.

Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed,

And whoever curses Israel will be cursed.”

¹⁰Balak clenched his fists in anger and said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, but three times now you have blessed them instead. ¹¹Now go off home! I promised to reward you, but the Lord has kept you from getting the reward.”

¹²Balaam answered, “I told the messengers you sent to me that ¹³even if you gave me all the silver and gold in your palace, I could not disobey the command of the Lord by doing anything of myself. I will say only what the Lord tells me to say.”

Balaam’s Final Prophecy

¹⁴Balaam said to Balak, “Now I am going back to my own people, but before I go, I am warning you what the people of Israel will do to your people in the future.” ¹⁵Then he uttered this prophecy:

“The message of Balaam son of Beor,

The words of the man who can see clearly,^b

¹⁶Who can hear what God is saying

And receive the knowledge that comes from the Most High.

With staring eyes I see in a trance

A vision from Almighty God.

¹⁷I look into the future,

And I see the nation of Israel.

A king, like a bright star, will arise in that nation.

Like a comet he will come from Israel.

He will strike the leaders of Moab

And beat down all the people of Seth.^c

¹⁸He will conquer his enemies in Edom

And make their land his property,

While Israel continues victorious.

¹⁹The nation of Israel will trample them down

And wipe out the last survivors.”

²⁰Then in his vision Balaam saw the Amalekites and uttered this prophecy:

“Amalek was the most powerful nation of all,

But at the end it will perish for ever.”

²¹In his vision he saw the Kenites, and uttered this prophecy:

“The place where you live is secure,

Safe as a nest set high on a cliff,

²²But you Kenites will be destroyed

When Assyria takes you captive.”^d

²³Balaam uttered this prophecy:

“Who are these people gathering in the north?^e

²⁴Invaders will sail from Cyprus;

They will conquer Assyria and Eber,

But they, in turn, will perish for ever.”

²⁵Then Balaam got ready and went back home, and Balak went on his way.

The People of Israel at Peor

25When the Israelites were camped in the Valley of Acacia, the men began to have sexual intercourse with the Moabite women who were there. ²These women invited them to sacrificial feasts, where the god of Moab was worshipped. The Israelites ate the food and worshipped the god ³Baal of Peor. So the Lord was angry with them ⁴and said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of Israel and, in obedience to me, execute them in broad daylight,^f and then I will no longer be angry with the people.” ⁵Moses said to the officials, “Each of you is to kill every man in your tribe who has become a worshipper of Baal of Peor.”

⁶One of the Israelites took a Midianite woman into his tent in the sight of Moses and the whole community, while they were mourning at the entrance of the Tent of the Lord’s presence. ⁷When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest, saw this, he got up and left the assembly. He took a spear, ⁸followed the man and the woman into the tent, and drove the spear through both of them. In this way the epidemic that was destroying Israel was stopped, ⁹but it had already killed 24,000 people.

¹⁰The Lord said to Moses, ¹¹“Because of what Phinehas has done, I am no longer angry with the people of Israel. He refused to tolerate the worship of any god but me, and that is why I did not destroy them in my anger. ¹²So tell him that I am making a covenant with him that is valid for all time to come. ¹³He and his descendants are permanently established as priests, because he did not tolerate any rivals to me and brought about forgiveness for the people’s sin.”

¹⁴The name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the head of a family in the tribe of Simeon. ¹⁵The woman’s name was Cozbi. Zur, her father, was chief of a group of Midianite clans.

¹⁶The Lord commanded Moses, ¹⁷“Attack the Midianites and destroy them, ¹⁸because of the evil they did to you when they deceived you at Peor, and because of Cozbi, who was killed at the time of the epidemic at Peor.”

The Second Census

26^*After the epidemic the Lord said to Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron, ^2*“Take a census by families of the whole community of Israel, of all men twenty years old or older who are fit for military service.” ^3–4*Moses and Eleazar obeyed, and called together all the men of that age group. They assembled in the plains of Moab across the River Jordan from Jericho.

These were the Israelites who came out of Egypt:

^5*The tribe of Reuben (Reuben was the eldest son of Jacob): the clans of Hanoch, Pallu, ^6*Hezron, and Carmi. ^7*These clans numbered 43,730 men. ^8*The descendants of Pallu were Eliab ^9*and his sons Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. (These are the Dathan and Abiram who were chosen by the community. They defied Moses and Aaron and joined the followers of Korah when they rebelled against the Lord. ^10*The ground opened and swallowed them, and they died with Korah and his followers when fire destroyed 250 men; they became a warning to the people. ^11*But the sons of Korah were not killed.)

^12*The tribe of Simeon: the clans of Nemuel, Jamin, Jachin, ^13*Zerah, and Shaul. ^14*These clans numbered 22,200 men.

^15*The tribe of Gad: the clans of Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, ^16*Ozni, Eri, ^17*Arod, and Areli. ^18*These clans numbered 40,500 men.

^19–21*The tribe of Judah: the clans of Shelah, Perez, Zerah, Hezron, and Hamul. (Two of Judah’s sons, Er and Onan, had died in the land of Canaan.) ^22*These clans numbered 76,500 men.

^23*The tribe of Issachar: the clans of Tola, Puah, ^24*Jashub, and Shimron. ^25*These clans numbered 64,300 men.

^26*The tribe of Zebulun: the clans of Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. ^27*These clans numbered 60,500 men.

^28*The tribes of Joseph, who was the father of two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

^29*The tribe of Manasseh: Machir son of Manasseh was the father of Gilead, and the following clans traced their ancestry to Gilead: ^30*the clans of Iezer, Helek, ^31*Asriel, Shechem, ^32*Shemida, and Hepher. ^33*Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons, but only daughters; their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ^34*These clans numbered 52,700 men.

^35*The tribe of Ephraim: the clans of Shuthelah, Becher, and Tahan. ^36*The clan of Eran traced its descent from Shuthelah. ^37*These clans numbered 32,500 men. These are the clans descended from Joseph.

^38*The tribe of Benjamin: the clans of Bela, Ashbel, Ahiram, ^39*Shephupham, and Hupham. ^40*The clans of Ard and Naaman traced their descent from Bela. ^41*These clans numbered 45,600 men.

^42*The tribe of Dan: the clan of Shuham, ^43*which numbered 64,400 men.

^44*The tribe of Asher: the clans of Imnah, Ishvi, and Beriah. ^45*The clans of Heber and Malchiel traced their descent from Beriah. ^46*Asher had a daughter named Serah. ^47*These clans numbered 53,400 men.

^48*The tribe of Naphtali: the clans of Jahzeel, Guni, ^49*Jezer, and Shillem. ^50*These clans numbered 45,400 men.

^51*The total number of the Israelite men was 601,730.

^52*The Lord said to Moses, ^53*“Divide the land among the tribes, according to their size. ^54–56*Divide the land by drawing lots, and give a large share to a large tribe and a small one to a small tribe.”

⁵⁷The tribe of Levi consisted of the clans of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ⁵⁸Their descendants included the subclans of Libni, Hebron, Mahli, Mushi, and Korah. Kohath was the father of Amram, ⁵⁹who was married to Levi’s daughter Jochebed, who was born in Egypt. She bore Amram two sons, Aaron and Moses, and a daughter, Miriam. ^60*Aaron had four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ^61*Nadab and Abihu died when they offered unholy fire to the Lord. ⁶²The male Levites who were one month old or older numbered 23,000. They were listed separately from the rest of the Israelites, because they were not given any property in Israel.

⁶³All these clans were listed by Moses and Eleazar when they took a census of the Israelites in the plains of Moab across the River Jordan from Jericho. ⁶⁴There was not even one man left among those whom Moses and Aaron had listed in the first census in the Sinai Desert. ^65*The Lord had said that all of them would die in the wilderness, and except for Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun they all did.