Numbers 24–25

24Since Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go to seek omens as on previous occasions, but turned ^ltoward the wilderness. ²When Balaam looked up and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God ^mcame on him, ³and he proclaimed his poem:

The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,

the oracle of the man whose eyes are opened, ⁿ

⁴the oracle of one who hears the sayings of God,

who sees a vision from the Almighty, ^o

who falls into a trance with his eyes uncovered:

⁵How beautiful are your tents, Jacob,

your dwellings, Israel.

⁶They stretch out like river valleys, ^p

like gardens beside a stream,

like aloes the Lord has planted,

like cedars beside the water.

⁷Water will flow from his buckets,

and his seed will be by abundant water.

His king will be greater than Agag, ^qr

and his kingdom will be exalted.

⁸God brought him out of Egypt;

He is like ^sthe horns of a wild ox for them. ^t

He will feed on enemy nations

and gnaw their bones;

he will strike them with his arrows.

⁹He crouches, he lies down like a lion

or a lioness—who dares to rouse him? ^u

Those who bless you will be blessed,

and those who curse you will be cursed. ^v

¹⁰Then Balak became furious with Balaam, struck his hands together, and said to him, “I summoned you to put a curse on my enemies, but instead, you have blessed them these three times. ¹¹Now go to your home! I said I would reward you richly, ^wbut look, the Lord has denied you a reward.”

¹²Balaam answered Balak, “Didn’t I previously tell the messengers you sent me: ¹³If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go against the Lord’s command, to do anything good or bad of my own will? I will say whatever the Lord says. ^x14Now I am going back to my people, but first, let me warn you what these people will do to your people in the future.”

Balaam’s Fourth Oracle

¹⁵Then he proclaimed his poem:

The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,

the oracle of the man whose eyes are opened; ^y

¹⁶the oracle of one who hears the sayings of God

and has knowledge from the Most High,

who sees a vision from the Almighty,

who falls into a trance with his eyes uncovered: ^z

¹⁷I see him, ^abut not now;

I perceive him, ^bbut not near.

A star will come from Jacob,

and a scepter will arise from Israel. ^c

He will smash the forehead ^dof Moab

and strike down ^eall the Shethites. ^f

¹⁸Edom will become a possession;

Seir ^gwill become a possession of its enemies,

but Israel will be triumphant.

¹⁹One who comes from Jacob will rule;

he will destroy the city’s survivors.

²⁰Then Balaam saw Amalek and proclaimed his poem:

Amalek was first among the nations, ^h

but his future is destruction.

²¹Next he saw the Kenites and proclaimed his poem:

Your dwelling place is enduring;

your nest is set in the cliffs.

²²Kain will be destroyed

when Asshur takes you captive.

²³Once more he proclaimed his poem:

Ah, who can live when God does this?

²⁴Ships will come from the coast of Kittim; ⁱ

they will afflict Asshur and Eber, ^j

but they too will come to destruction.

²⁵Balaam then arose and went back to his homeland, and Balak also went his way.

Israel Worships Baal

25While Israel was staying in the Acacia Grove, ^klthe people began to have sexual relations with the women of Moab. ²The women invited them to the sacrifices for their gods, and the people ate and bowed in worship to their gods. ^m3So Israel aligned itself with Baal of Peor, ⁿand the Lord’s anger burned against Israel. ^o4The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute ^pthem in broad daylight before the Lord so that His burning anger may turn away from Israel.”

⁵So Moses told Israel’s judges, “Kill each of the men who aligned themselves with Baal of Peor.”

Phinehas Intervenes

⁶An Israelite man came bringing a Midianite woman to his relatives in the sight of Moses and the whole Israelite community while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁷When Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw this, he got up from the assembly, took a spear in his hand, ⁸followed the Israelite man into the tent, ^qand drove it through both the Israelite man and the woman—through her belly. Then the plague on the Israelites was stopped, ⁹but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000. ^r

¹⁰The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹¹“Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites because he was zealous among them with My zeal, ^stso that I did not destroy the Israelites in My zeal. ¹²Therefore declare: I grant him My covenant of peace. ^u13It will be a covenant of perpetual priesthood for him and his future descendants, ^vbecause he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”

¹⁴The name of the slain Israelite man, who was struck dead with the Midianite woman, was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite ancestral house. ¹⁵The name of the slain Midianite woman was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur, a tribal head of an ancestral house in Midian.

Vengeance against the Midianites

¹⁶The Lord told Moses: ¹⁷“Attack the Midianites and strike them dead. ¹⁸For they attacked you with the treachery that they used against you in the Peor incident. They did the same in the case involving their sister Cozbi, daughter of the Midianite leader who was killed the day the plague came at Peor.”