Numbers 23:1–25:18

Balaam’s Oracles

23Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me this: seven altars. And prepare for me this: seven bulls and seven rams.” ²And Balak did just as Balaam spoke, and Balak offered Balaam a bull and a ram on the altar. ³And Balaam said to Balak, “Station yourself at your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell to you.” So he went to a barren height.

⁴And God met with Balaam, and he said to him, “I have arranged seven altars, and I have offered a bull and a ram on the altar.” ⁵Yahweh put a word in the mouth of Balaam and said, “Return to Balak, and you must speak thus.” ⁶So he returned to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, he and all the leaders of Moab. ⁷And he lifted up his oracle and said,

“From Aram Balak lead me,

from the mountains of the east the king of Moab,

‘Go for me, curse Jacob,

and go, denounce Israel.’

⁸How can I curse whom God has not cursed,

and how can I denounce whom Yahweh has not denounced?

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

from hilltops I watch him.

Behold, a people who dwell alone,

they do not consider themselves among the nations.

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob,

or as a number the fourth part of Israel?

Let my life die the death of an upright person,

and let my end be like his!”

¹¹And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have surely blessed them!” ¹²He answered and said, “Should I not speak^a what Yahweh puts in my mouth?”

¹³Then Balak said, “Please walk with me to another place where you will see them, but you will only see part of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴So he took him to the field of Zophim to the top of Pisgah, and he built seven altars, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ¹⁵Balaam^b said to Balak, “Station yourself here at the burnt offering while I myself meet with Yahweh there.” ¹⁶Then Yahweh met with Balaam, and he put a word in his mouth, and he said, “Return to Balak, and you must speak thus.” ¹⁷He came to him, and behold, he was standing at his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh spoken?” ¹⁸Then he uttered^c his oracle, and said,

“Stand up, Balak, and hear;

listen to me, son of Zippor!

¹⁹God is not a man, that he should lie,

nor a son of humankind,

that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

And has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

²⁰Behold, I have received a command to bless;

when he has blessed, I cannot cause it to return.

²¹He has no regard for evil in Jacob,

and he does not see trouble in Israel;

Yahweh his God is with him,

and a shout^d of a king is among them.^e

²²God, who brings them out from Egypt,

is like the strength^f of a wild ox for them.^g

²³Because there is no sorcery against Jacob,

and there is no divination against Israel.

Now^h it will be said to Jacob and Israel,

what God has done!

²⁴Look! the people will rise like the lion;

he raises himself and will not lie down

until he eats the prey

and drinks the blood of the slain.”

²⁵Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse themⁱ at all, nor bless them^j at all!” ²⁶But Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Whatever Yahweh speaks I will do’?”

²⁷Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please, come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be acceptable to^k God, and you will curse for me from there.” ²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which looks down on the face of the Jeshimon.^{l 29}And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me these seven altars, and prepare for me these seven bulls and seven rams.” ³⁰Balak did just as Balaam said, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Balaam Continues to Utter Oracles

24And Balaam saw that it pleased^a Yahweh to bless Israel, and he did not go as other times^b to seek out^c sorcery; instead, he set his face toward the desert. ²Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to its tribes, and the spirit of God was upon him. ³He uttered^e his oracle and said,

“The declaration of Balaam son Beor,

the declaration of the man whose eyes are closed,

⁴the declaration of the hearer of God’s words,^f

who sees the revelation of Shaddai,^g

falling down but whose eyes are uncovered.

⁵How good are your tents, O Jacob,

your dwellings, O Israel!

⁶They are spread out like valleys,

like gardens on a river,

like aloes planted by Yahweh,

like cedars at the waters.

⁷He will pour water from his buckets,

and his offspring will be like many waters;

his king will be higher than Agag,

and his kingdom will be exalted.

⁸God, who brings him out from Egypt,

is like the strength^h of a wild ox for him.

He will devour the nations who are his enemies;

he will break their bones;

he will pierce them with his arrows.

⁹He crouches, he lies down like a lion,

and like a lioness, who will rouse him?

They who bless you will be blessed,

and they who curse you will be cursed.”

¹⁰Then Balak became angry withⁱ Balaam, and he clapped his hands and said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, but look, you have surely blessed them these three times. ¹¹Flee^j to your place now. I said I would richly honor you, but look, Yahweh has withheld honor from you.” ¹²Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, ¹³‘If Balak gave to me the fullness of his house full of silver and gold, I am not able to go beyond the command of Yahweh^k to do good or evil, from my heart; what Yahweh speaks, I will speak’?^{l 14}And now, look, I am about to go to my people; I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the following days.”^m

¹⁵And he utteredⁿ his oracle and said,

“The declaration of Balaam son of Beor,

and the declaration of the man whose eye is closed,

¹⁶the declaration of the hearer of God’s words,^o

and the knower of the knowledge of the Most High,

who sees the vision of Shaddai,^p

who is falling, and his eyes are revealed.

¹⁷I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not near;

a star will go out from Jacob,

and a scepter will rise from Israel;

it will crush the foreheads of Moab

and destroy all the children of Seth.

¹⁸Edom will be a captive;

Seir, its enemies, will be a captive,

and Israel will be acting courageously.^q

¹⁹Someone^r from Jacob will rule

and will destroy a remnant^s from the city.”

²⁰And he looked at Amalek, uttered^t his oracle, and said,

“Amalek is first^u of the nations,

but his future will be forever ruin.”

²¹And he looked at the Kenites,^v uttered^w his oracle, and said,

“Steady is your dwelling place;

in the rock is your nest.

²²Nevertheless, the Kenite will be burned;

how long will Asshur keep^x you captive?”

²³Again he uttered^y his oracle and said,

“Woe, who will live when God establishes this?^z

²⁴The ships will come from the hand of the Kittim,

and they will afflict Asshur and will afflict Eber;

also he will be forever ruin.”

²⁵Then Balaam got up and went and returned to his place, and Balak also went on his way.

The Plague of Israel

25When Israel dwelled in Shittim, the people began to prostitute^a themselves with the daughters of Moab. ²And they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and worshiped their gods. ³So Israel was joined together to Baal Peor, and Yahweh became angry^b with Israel. ⁴Yahweh said to Moses, “Take all the leaders^c of the people and hang them before Yahweh in the sun, so the fierce anger of Yahweh will turn from Israel.” ⁵So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill his men who are joined together with Baal Peor.”

⁶And behold, a man from the Israelites^d came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of all of the community of the Israelites,^e and they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of assembly. ⁷When Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest saw, he got up from the midst of the community and took a spear in his hand. ⁸He went after the man of Israel into the woman’s section of the tent, and he drove the two of them, the man of Israel and the woman, into her belly. And the plague among the Israelites^f stopped. ⁹The ones who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

¹⁰Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹“Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, turned away my anger from among the Israelites^g when he was jealous with my jealousy in their midst, and I did not destroy the Israelites^h with my jealousy. ¹²Therefore say, ‘Behold, I am giving to him my covenant of peace, ¹³and it will be for him and his offspringⁱ after him a covenant of an eternal priesthood because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.’ ”^j

¹⁴The name of the man of Israel who was struck with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, a leader of the family^k of the Simeonites.^{l 15}The name of the Midianite woman who was struck was Cozbi daughter of Zur, a leader^m of a tribe of the familyⁿ in Midian.

¹⁶Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷“Attack the Midianites and strike them ¹⁸because they were attacking you with their deception, with which they have deceived you on the matter of Peor and on the matter of Cozbi the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was struck on the day of the plague because of the matter of Peor.”