Numbers 23–25

23And Balaam said unto Balak, ^aBuild me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. ²And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam ^boffered on every altar a bullock and a ram. ³And Balaam said unto Balak, ^cStand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the Lord will come ^dto meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And ^||he went to an high place. ^4eAnd God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram. ⁵And the Lord ^fput a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. ⁶And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab. ⁷And he ^gtook up his parable, and said,

Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram,

Out of the mountains of the east, saying,

Come, ^hcurse me Jacob,

And come, ⁱdefy Israel.

⁸How shall I ^kcurse, whom God hath not ^kcursed?

Or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?

⁹For from the top of the rocks I see him,

And from the hills I behold him:

Lo, ^lthe people shall dwell alone,

And ^mshall not be reckoned among the nations.

¹⁰ⁿWho can count the dust of Jacob,

And the number of the fourth part of Israel?

Let ^†me die ^othe death of the righteous,

And let my last end be like his!

¹¹And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee ^pto curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether. ¹²And he answered and said, ^qMust I not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth? ¹³And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence. ¹⁴And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of ^||Pisgah, ^rand built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. ¹⁵And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet ^sthe Lord yonder. ¹⁶And the Lord met Balaam, and ^tput a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus. ¹⁷And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the Lord spoken? ¹⁸And he took up his parable, and said,

Rise up, Balak, and hear;

Hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:

^19uGod is not a man, that he should lie;

Neither the son of man, that he should repent:

Hath he said, and shall he not do it?

Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

²⁰Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and ^xhe hath blessed;

And I cannot reverse it.

²¹He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob,

Neither hath he seen ^yperverseness in Israel:

The Lord his God is with him,

^zAnd the shout of a king is among them.

^22aGod brought them out of Egypt;

He hath as it were ^bthe strength ^cof an unicorn.

²³Surely there is no enchantment ^||against Jacob,

Neither is there any ^ddivination ^||against Israel:

According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel,

^eWhat hath God wrought!

²⁴Behold, the people shall rise up ^fas a great lion,

And lift up himself as ^fa young lion:

^gHe shall not lie down until he eat of the prey,

And drink the blood of the slain.

²⁵And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. ²⁶But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, ^hAll that the Lord speaketh, that I must do? ²⁷And Balak said unto Balaam, ⁱCome, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. ²⁸And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of ^kPeor, that looketh ^ltoward Jeshimon. ²⁹And Balaam said unto Balak, ^mBuild me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. ^30mAnd Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.

24And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went not, as at ^aother times, ^†to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness. ²And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel ^babiding in his tents according to their tribes; and ^cthe spirit of God came upon him. ³And he took up his parable, and said,

^dBalaam the son of Beor hath said,

And the man ^†whose eyes are open hath said:

⁴He hath said, which heard the words of God,

Which saw the vision of the Almighty,

^eFalling into a trance, but having his eyes open:

⁵How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob,

And thy tabernacles, O Israel!

⁶As the valleys are they spread forth,

As gardens by the river’s side,

^fAs the trees of lign aloes ^gwhich the Lord hath planted,

And as cedar trees beside the waters.

⁷He shall pour the water out of his buckets,

And his seed shall be ^hin many waters,

And his king shall be higher than ⁱAgag,

And his ^kkingdom shall be exalted.

^8lGod brought him forth out of Egypt;

He hath as it were the strength of an unicorn:

He shall ^meat up the nations his enemies,

And shall ⁿbreak their bones,

And ^opierce them through with his arrows.

^9pHe couched, he lay down as a lion,

And as a great lion: who shall stir him up?

^qBlessed is he that blesseth thee,

And cursed is he that curseth thee.

¹⁰And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he ^rsmote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, ^sI called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times. ¹¹Therefore now flee thou to thy place: ^tI thought to promote thee unto great honour; but, lo, the Lord hath kept thee back from honour. ¹²And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, ^13uIf Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to do either good or bad ^wof mine own mind; but what the Lord saith, that will I speak? ¹⁴And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and ^xI will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people ^yin the latter days. ^15zAnd he took up his parable, and said,

^aBalaam the son of Beor hath said,

And the man whose eyes are open hath said:

^16aHe hath said, which heard the words of God,

And knew the knowledge of the most High,

Which saw the vision of the Almighty,

Falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:

^17bI shall see him, but not now:

I shall ^bbehold him, but not nigh:

There ^cshall come ^da Star out of Jacob,

And ^ea Sceptre shall rise out of Israel,

And shall ^||smite the corners of Moab,

And destroy all the children of Sheth.

¹⁸And ^fEdom shall be a possession,

^gSeir also shall be a possession for his enemies;

And Israel shall do valiantly.

¹⁹Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion,

And shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.

²⁰And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said,

Amalek was ^||the first of the nations;

But his latter end ^||shall be that he perish for ever.

²¹And he looked on ^hthe Kenites, and took up his parable, and said,

Strong is thy dwellingplace,

And thou puttest thy nest in a rock.

²²Nevertheless ^†the Kenite shall be wasted,

^||Until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.

²³And he took up his parable, and said,

Alas, who shall live when God doeth this!

²⁴And ships shall come from the coast of ⁱChittim,

And shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict ^kEber,

And he also ^lshall perish for ever.

²⁵And Balaam rose up, and went and ^mreturned to his place: and Balak also went his way.

25And Israel abode in ^aShittim, and ^bthe people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. ^2cAnd they ^dcalled the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. ³And Israel ^ejoined himself unto ^fBaal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. ⁴And the Lord said unto Moses, ^gTake all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, ^hthat the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. ⁵And Moses said unto ⁱthe judges of Israel, ^kSlay ye every one his men that were joined unto ^fBaal-peor. ⁶And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were ^lweeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. ⁷And ^mwhen Phinehas, ⁿthe son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; ⁸And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So ^othe plague was stayed from the children of Israel. ⁹And ^pthose that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.

¹⁰And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ¹¹Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, ^qhath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous ^†for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in ^rmy jealousy. ¹²Wherefore say, ^sBehold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: ¹³And he shall have it, and ^this seed after him, even the covenant of ^uan everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel. ¹⁴Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a ^†chief house among the Simeonites. ¹⁵And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of ^xZur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian.

¹⁶And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ^17yVex the Midianites, and smite them: ¹⁸For they vex you with their ^zwiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of ^aPeor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for ^aPeor’s sake.