Numbers 24–25

24Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel,^f he did not resort to divination^g as at other times, but turned his face toward the wilderness.^{h 2}When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came on him^{i 3}and he spoke his message:

“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor,

the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,^j

⁴the prophecy of one who hears the words of God,^k

who sees a vision from the Almighty,^al

who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:

⁵“How beautiful are your tents,^m Jacob,

your dwelling places, Israel!

⁶“Like valleys they spread out,

like gardens beside a river,ⁿ

like aloes^o planted by the Lord,

like cedars beside the waters.^p

⁷Water will flow from their buckets;

their seed will have abundant water.

“Their king will be greater than Agag;^q

their kingdom will be exalted.^r

⁸“God brought them out of Egypt;

they have the strength of a wild ox.

They devour hostile nations

and break their bones in pieces;^s

with their arrows they pierce them.^t

⁹Like a lion they crouch and lie down,

like a lioness^u—who dares to rouse them?

“May those who bless you be blessed^v

and those who curse you be cursed!”^w

¹⁰Then Balak’s anger burned^x against Balaam. He struck his hands together^y and said to him, “I summoned you to curse my enemies,^z but you have blessed them^a these three times.^{b 11}Now leave at once and go home!^c I said I would reward you handsomely,^d but the Lord has kept you from being rewarded.”

¹²Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell the messengers you sent me,^{e 13}‘Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord^f—and I must say only what the Lord says’?^{g 14}Now I am going back to my people, but come, let me warn you of what this people will do to your people in days to come.”^h

Balaam’s Fourth Message

¹⁵Then he spoke his message:

“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor,

the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,

¹⁶the prophecy of one who hears the wordsⁱ of God,

who has knowledge from the Most High,^j

who sees a vision from the Almighty,

who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:

¹⁷“I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not near.^k

A star will come out of Jacob;^l

a scepter will rise out of Israel.^m

He will crush the foreheads of Moab,ⁿ

the skulls^bo of^c all the people of Sheth.^d

¹⁸Edom^p will be conquered;

Seir,^q his enemy, will be conquered,^r

but Israel^s will grow strong.

¹⁹A ruler will come out of Jacob^t

and destroy the survivors of the city.”

Balaam’s Fifth Message

²⁰Then Balaam saw Amalek^u and spoke his message:

“Amalek was first among the nations,

but their end will be utter destruction.”^v

Balaam’s Sixth Message

²¹Then he saw the Kenites^w and spoke his message:

“Your dwelling place is secure,^x

your nest is set in a rock;

²²yet you Kenites will be destroyed

when Ashur^y takes you captive.”

Balaam’s Seventh Message

²³Then he spoke his message:

“Alas! Who can live when God does this?^e

²⁴Ships will come from the shores of Cyprus;^z

they will subdue Ashur^a and Eber,^b

but they too will come to ruin.^c”

²⁵Then Balaam^d got up and returned home, and Balak went his own way.

Moab Seduces Israel

25While Israel was staying in Shittim,^e the men began to indulge in sexual immorality^f with Moabite^g women,^{h 2}who invited them to the sacrificesⁱ to their gods.^j The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. ³So Israel yoked themselves to^k the Baal of Peor.^l And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

⁴The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders^m of these people, kill them and exposeⁿ them in broad daylight before the Lord,^o so that the Lord’s fierce anger^p may turn away from Israel.”

⁵So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death^q those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”^r

⁶Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite^s woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping^t at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁷When Phinehas^u son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear^v in his hand ⁸and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped;^{w 9}but those who died in the plague^x numbered 24,000.^y

¹⁰The Lord said to Moses, ¹¹“Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites.^z Since he was as zealous for my honor^a among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal. ¹²Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace^b with him. ¹³He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood,^c because he was zealous^d for the honor^e of his God and made atonement^f for the Israelites.”^g

¹⁴The name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman^h was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family.^{i 15}And the name of the Midianite woman who was put to death was Kozbi^j daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.^k

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses,^{l 17}“Treat the Midianites^m as enemiesⁿ and kill them.^{o 18}They treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the Peor incident^p involving their sister Kozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the plague came as a result of that incident.”