Numbers 23–25

23RD CHAPTER

Balaam’s First Prophecy

¹Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” ²Balak did what Balaam told him, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 

³Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I’m gone. Maybe the Lord will come and meet with me. I will tell you whatever he reveals to me.” Then Balaam went off to a higher place where there were no trees. 

⁴God came to him, and Balaam said, “I have set up seven altars, and I offered a bull and a ram on each altar.” 

⁵The Lord told Balaam, “Go back to Balak, and give him my message.” 

⁶So he went back to Balak and found him standing beside his burnt offering with all the princes of Moab. ⁷Then Balaam delivered this message: 

“Balak brought me from Aram. 

The king of Moab summoned me from the eastern mountains. 

‘Come, curse Jacob for me,’ he said. 

‘Come, condemn Israel.’ 

⁸How can I curse those whom God hasn’t cursed? 

How can I condemn those whom the Lord hasn’t condemned? 

⁹I see them from the top of rocky cliffs, 

I look at them from the hills. 

I see a nation that lives by itself, 

people who do not consider themselves 

to be like other nations. 

¹⁰The descendants of Jacob are like specks of dust. 

Who can count them 

or number even one-fourth of the people of Israel? 

Let me die the death of innocent people. 

Let my end be like theirs.” 

¹¹Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, but all you’ve done is bless them!” 

¹²Balaam answered, “I must say what the Lord tells me to say.” 

Balaam’s Second Prophecy

¹³Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you can see the Israelites. You will see only some of them, not all of them. Curse them for me from there.” 

¹⁴So he took him to the Field of Zophim^aon top of Mount Pisgah, where he built seven altars. He offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ¹⁵Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I meet with God over there.” 

¹⁶The Lord came to Balaam and told him, “Go back to Balak, and give him my message.” 

¹⁷He came to Balak and found him standing beside his burnt offering with the princes of Moab. Balak asked him, “What did the Lord say?” ¹⁸Then Balaam delivered this message: 

“Stand up, Balak, and listen! 

Hear me, son of Zippor! 

¹⁹God is not like people. He tells no lies. 

He is not like humans. He doesn’t change his mind. 

When he says something, he does it. 

When he makes a promise, he keeps it. 

²⁰I have received a command to bless. 

He has blessed, and I can’t change it. 

²¹He doesn’t want any trouble for the descendants of Jacob. 

He sees no misfortune for the people of Israel. 

The Lord their God is with them, 

praised as their king. 

²²The God who brought them out of Egypt 

has the strength of a wild bull. 

²³No spell can curse the descendants of Jacob. 

No magic can harm the people of Israel. 

Now it will be said of Jacob and Israel: 

‘See what God has done!’ 

²⁴Here is a nation that attacks like a lioness 

and is as ferocious as a lion. 

It doesn’t lie down until it eats its prey 

and drinks the blood of its victim.” 

²⁵Balak said to Balaam, “If you won’t curse them, then at least don’t bless them!” 

²⁶Balaam answered, “Didn’t I tell you that I must do whatever the Lord says?” 

²⁷Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place. Maybe God wants you to curse them for me from there.” ²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Mount Peor, which overlooks Jeshimon. 

²⁹Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” ³⁰Balak did what Balaam told him, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 

24TH CHAPTER

Balaam’s Third Prophecy

¹When Balaam saw that the Lord wanted to bless Israel, he didn’t look for omens as he had done before. He turned toward the desert, ²looked up, and saw Israel’s camp grouped by tribes. The Spirit of God entered him, ³and he delivered this message: 

“This is the message of Balaam, son of Beor. 

This is the message of the man whose eyesight is clear. 

⁴This is the message of the one who hears God’s words, 

has a vision from the Almighty, 

and falls ⸤into a trance⸥ with his eyes open: 

⁵How beautiful are your tents, Jacob, 

and the places where you live, Israel. 

⁶Your tents spread out like rivers, 

like gardens by a river, 

like aloes planted by the Lord, 

like cedars by the water. 

⁷Water will flow from their buckets, 

and their crops will have plenty of water. 

Their king will be greater than Agag, 

and their kingdom will be considered the best. 

⁸The God who brought them out of Egypt 

has the strength of a wild bull. 

He will devour nations that are his enemies, 

crush their bones, 

and pierce them with arrows. 

⁹His people lie down ⸤and⸥ rest like a lion. 

They are like a lioness. Who dares to disturb them? 

Those who bless you will be blessed! 

Those who curse you will be cursed!” 

Balaam’s Fourth Prophecy

¹⁰Balak became angry with Balaam. He clapped his hands and said, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, and now you have blessed them three times. ¹¹Get out of here! Go home! I said I’d reward you richly, but the Lord has made you lose your reward.” 

¹²Balaam answered Balak, “I told the messengers you sent me, ¹³‘Even if Balak would give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I couldn’t disobey the Lord’s command no matter how good or bad the request might seem to me. I must say only what the Lord says.’ ¹⁴Even though I’m going back to my people, I’ll give you some advice. I’ll tell you what these people will do to your people in the days to come.” 

¹⁵Then Balaam delivered this message: 

“This is the message of Balaam, son of Beor. 

This is the message of the man whose eyesight is clear. 

¹⁶This is the message of the one who hears God’s words, 

receives knowledge from the Most High, 

has a vision from the Almighty, 

and falls ⸤into a trance⸥ with his eyes open: 

¹⁷I see someone who is not here now. 

I look at someone who is not nearby. 

A star will come from Jacob. 

A scepter will rise from Israel. 

He will crush the heads of the Moabites 

and destroy all the people of Sheth.^b

¹⁸Edom will be conquered, 

and Seir, his enemy, will be conquered. 

So Israel will become wealthy. 

¹⁹He will rule from Jacob 

and destroy whoever is left in their cities.” 

²⁰Then Balaam saw the Amalekites and delivered this message: 

“Amalek was first among the nations, 

but in the end it will be destroyed.” 

²¹Then he saw the Kenites and delivered this message: 

“You have a permanent place to live. 

Your nest is built in a rock. 

²²But it is destined to be burned, you ⸤descendants of⸥ Cain, 

when Assyria takes you as prisoners of war.”^c

²³He delivered this message: 

“Oh no! Who will live when God decides to do this? 

²⁴Ships will come from the shores of Cyprus. 

They will conquer Assyria and Eber. 

But they, too, will be totally destroyed.” 

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

25TH CHAPTER

Israel Commits Idolatry

¹While Israel was staying at Shittim, the men began to have sex with Moabite women ²who invited the people to the sacrifices offered to their gods. The people ate the meat from the sacrifices and worshiped these gods. ³Since the Israelites joined in worshiping the god Baal of Peor, the Lord became angry with Israel. 

⁴The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people, and execute them in broad daylight in the Lord’s presence. This will turn the Lord’s anger away from Israel.” 

⁵So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you must kill the men who have joined in worshiping the god Baal of Peor.” 

⁶One of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman to his brothers. He did this right in front of Moses and the whole community of Israel while they were crying at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁷Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of the priest Aaron, saw this. So he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand, ⁸and went into the tent after the Israelite man. He drove the spear through the man and into the woman’s body. Because of this, the plague that the Israelites were experiencing stopped. ⁹However, 24,000 people died from that plague. 

¹⁰Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹¹“Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of the priest Aaron, turned my fury away from the Israelites. Since he stood up for me, I didn’t have to stand up for myself and destroy them. ¹²So tell Phinehas that I’m making a promise of peace to him. ¹³My promise is that he and his descendants will be priests permanently because he stood up for his God and he made peace with the Lord for the Israelites.” 

¹⁴The name of the Israelite man who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri, son of Salu. (Salu was the leader of a family from Simeon.) ¹⁵The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi, daughter of Zur. (Zur was the head of a family from the Midianite tribes.) 

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷“Treat the Midianites as your enemies, and kill them ¹⁸because they treated you as enemies. They plotted to trick you in the incident that took place at Peor. They used their sister Cozbi, daughter of a Midianite leader, who was killed on the day of the plague caused by the incident at Peor.”