Numbers 24–25

24Balaam saw that the Lord wanted to bless Israel, so he did not try to use any magic but looked toward the desert. ²When Balaam saw the Israelites camped in their tribes, the Spirit of God took control of him, ³and he gave this message:

“This is the message of Balaam son of Beor,

the message of a man who sees clearly;

⁴this is the message of a man who hears the words of God.

I see a vision from the Almighty,

and my eyes are open as I fall before him.

⁵Your tents are beautiful, people of Jacob!

So are your homes, Israel!

⁶Your tents spread out like valleys,

like gardens beside a river.

They are like spices planted by the Lord,

like cedar trees growing by the water.

⁷Israel’s water buckets will always be full,

and their crops will have plenty of water.

Their king will be greater than Agag;

their kingdom will be very great.

⁸God brought them out of Egypt;

they are as strong as a wild ox.

They will defeat their enemies

and break their enemies’ bones;

they will shoot them with arrows.

⁹Like a lion, they lie waiting to attack;

like a lioness, no one would be brave enough to wake them.

Anyone who blesses you will be blessed,

and anyone who curses you will be cursed.”

¹⁰Then Balak was angry with Balaam, and he pounded his fist. He said to Balaam, “I called you here to curse my enemies, but you have continued to bless them three times. ¹¹Now go home! I said I would pay you well, but the Lord has made you lose your reward.”

¹²Balaam said to Balak, “When you sent messengers to me, I told them, ¹³‘Balak could give me his palace filled with silver and gold, but I still cannot go against the Lord’s commands. I could not do anything, good or bad, on my own, but I must say what the Lord says.’ ¹⁴Now I am going back to my own people, but I will tell you what these people will do to your people in the future.”

Balaam’s Final Message

¹⁵Then Balaam gave this message:

“This is the message of Balaam son of Beor,

the message of a man who sees clearly;

¹⁶this is the message of a man who hears the words of God.

I know well the Most High God.

I see a vision from the Almighty,

and my eyes are open as I fall before him.

¹⁷I see someone who will come someday,

someone who will come, but not soon.

A star will come from Jacob;

a ruler will rise from Israel.

He will crush the heads of the Moabites

and smash the skulls of the sons of Sheth.

¹⁸Edom will be conquered;

his enemy Edom will be conquered,

but Israel will grow wealthy.

¹⁹A ruler will come from the descendants of Jacob

and will destroy those left in the city.”

²⁰Then Balaam saw Amalek and gave this message:

“Amalek was the most important nation,

but Amalek will be destroyed at last.”

²¹Then Balaam saw the Kenites and gave this message:

“Your home is safe,

like a nest on a cliff.

²²But you Kenites will be burned up;

Assyria will keep you captive.”

²³Then Balaam gave this message:

“No one can live when God does this.

²⁴Ships will sail from the shores of Cyprus

and defeat Assyria and Eber,

but they will also be destroyed.”

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

Israel Worships Baal at Peor

25While the people of Israel were still camped at Acacia, the men began sinning sexually with Moabite women. ²The women invited them to their sacrifices to their gods, and the Israelites ate food there and worshiped these gods. ³So the Israelites began to worship Baal of Peor, and the Lord was very angry with them.

⁴The Lord said to Moses, “Get all the leaders of the people and kill them in open daylight in the presence of the Lord. Then the Lord will not be angry with the people of Israel.”

⁵So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death your people who have become worshipers of Baal of Peor.”

⁶Moses and the Israelites were gathered at the entrance to the Meeting Tent, crying there. Then an Israelite man brought a Midianite woman to his brothers in plain sight of Moses and all the people. ⁷Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, so he left the meeting and got his spear. ⁸He followed the Israelite into his tent and drove his spear through both the Israelite man and the Midianite woman. Then the terrible sickness among the Israelites stopped.

⁹This sickness had killed twenty-four thousand people.

¹⁰The Lord said to Moses, ¹¹“Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has saved the Israelites from my anger. He hates sin as much as I do. Since he tried to save my honor among them, I will not kill them. ¹²So tell Phinehas that I am making my peace agreement with him. ¹³He and his descendants will always be priests, because he had great concern for the honor of his God. He removed the sins of the Israelites so they would belong to God.”

¹⁴The Israelite man who was killed with the Midianite woman was named Zimri son of Salu. He was the leader of a family in the tribe of Simeon. ¹⁵And the name of the Midianite woman who was put to death was Cozbi daughter of Zur, who was the chief of a Midianite family.

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷“The Midianites are your enemies, and you should kill them. ¹⁸They have already made you their enemies, because they tricked you at Peor and because of their sister Cozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader. She was the woman who was killed when the sickness came because the people sinned at Peor.”