Numbers 23–25

23Then Balaam said to Balak, ^a“Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

²And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam ^boffered a bull and a ram on each altar. ³Then Balaam said to Balak, ^c“Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come ^dto meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a desolate height. ^4eAnd God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”

⁵Then the Lord ^fput a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ⁶So he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

⁷And he ^gtook up his ¹oracle and said:

“Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram,

From the mountains of the east.

^h‘Come, curse Jacob for me,

And come, ⁱdenounce Israel!’

⁸“How ^jshall I curse whom God has not cursed?

And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?

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

And from the hills I behold him;

There! ^kA people dwelling alone,

^lNot reckoning itself among the nations.

¹⁰“Who ^mcan count the ²dust of Jacob,

Or number one-fourth of Israel?

Let me die ⁿthe death of the righteous,

And let my end be like his!”

¹¹Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? ^oI took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!”

¹²So he answered and said, ^p“Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?”

Balaam’s Second Prophecy

¹³Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only the outer part of them, and shall not see them all; curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴So he brought him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, ^qand built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵And he said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering while I ³meet the Lord over there.”

¹⁶Then the Lord met Balaam, and ^rput a word in his mouth, and said, “Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ¹⁷So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”

¹⁸Then he took up his oracle and said:

^s“Rise up, Balak, and hear!

Listen to me, son of Zippor!

¹⁹“God ^tis not a man, that He should lie,

Nor a son of man, that He should repent.

Has He ^usaid, and will He not do?

Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

²⁰Behold, I have received a command to bless;

^vHe has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

²¹“He ^whas not observed iniquity in Jacob,

Nor has He seen ⁴wickedness in Israel.

The Lord his God is with him,

^xAnd the shout of a King is among them.

^22yGod brings them out of Egypt;

He has ^zstrength like a wild ox.

²³“For there is no ⁵sorcery against Jacob,

Nor any ⁶divination against Israel.

It now must be said of Jacob

And of Israel, ‘Oh, ^awhat God has done!’

²⁴Look, a people rises ^blike a lioness,

And lifts itself up like a lion;

^cIt shall not lie down until it devours the prey,

And drinks the blood of the slain.”

²⁵Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!”

²⁶So Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ^d‘All that the Lord speaks, that I must do’?”

Balaam’s Third Prophecy

²⁷Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” ²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that ^eoverlooks ⁷the wasteland. ²⁹Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ³⁰And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.

24Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at ^aother times, to seek to use ¹sorcery, but he set his face toward the wilderness. ²And Balaam raised his eyes, and saw Israel ^bencamped according to their tribes; and ^cthe Spirit of God came upon him.

^3dThen he took up his oracle and said:

“The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor,

The utterance of the man whose eyes are opened,

⁴The utterance of him who hears the words of God,

Who sees the vision of the Almighty,

Who ^efalls down, with eyes wide open:

⁵“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob!

Your dwellings, O Israel!

⁶Like valleys that stretch out,

Like gardens by the riverside,

^fLike aloes ^gplanted by the Lord,

Like cedars beside the waters.

⁷He shall pour water from his buckets,

And his seed shall be ^hin many waters.

“His king shall be higher than ⁱAgag,

And his ^jkingdom shall be exalted.

⁸“God ^kbrings him out of Egypt;

He has strength like a wild ox;

He shall ^lconsume the nations, his enemies;

He shall ^mbreak their bones

And ⁿpierce them with his arrows.

⁹‘He ^obows down, he lies down as a lion;

And as a lion, who shall rouse him?’

^p“Blessed is he who blesses you,

And cursed is he who curses you.”

¹⁰Then Balak’s anger was aroused against Balaam, and he ^qstruck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, ^r“I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have bountifully blessed them these three times! ¹¹Now therefore, flee to your place. ^sI said I would greatly honor you, but in fact, the Lord has kept you back from honor.”

¹²So Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, ¹³‘If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord, to do good or bad of my own will. What the Lord says, that I must speak’? ¹⁴And now, indeed, I am going to my people. Come, ^tI will advise you what this people will do to your people in the ^ulatter days.”

Balaam’s Fourth Prophecy

¹⁵So he took up his oracle and said:

“The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor,

And the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened;

¹⁶The utterance of him who hears the words of God,

And has the knowledge of the Most High,

Who sees the vision of the Almighty,

Who falls down, with eyes wide open:

¹⁷“I ^vsee Him, but not now;

I behold Him, but not near;

^wA Star shall come out of Jacob;

^xA Scepter shall rise out of Israel,

And ²batter the brow of Moab,

And destroy all the sons of ³tumult.

¹⁸“And ^yEdom shall be a possession;

Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession,

While Israel does ⁴valiantly.

^19zOut of Jacob One ⁵shall have dominion,

And destroy the remains of the city.”

²⁰Then he looked on Amalek, and he took up his oracle and said:

“Amalek was first among the nations,

But shall be last until he perishes.”

²¹Then he looked on the Kenites, and he took up his oracle and said:

“Firm is your dwelling place,

And your nest is set in the rock;

²²Nevertheless Kain shall be burned.

How long until Asshur carries you away captive?”

²³Then he took up his oracle and said:

“Alas! Who shall live when God does this?

²⁴But ships shall come from the coasts of ^aCyprus, ⁶

And they shall afflict Asshur and afflict ^bEber,

And so shall ⁷Amalek, until he perishes.”

²⁵So Balaam rose and departed and ^creturned to his place; Balak also went his way.

Israel’s Harlotry in Moab

25Now Israel remained in ^aAcacia Grove, ¹and the ^bpeople began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. ^2cThey invited the people to ^dthe sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and ^ebowed down to their gods. ³So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and ^fthe anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.

⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, ^g“Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord, out in the sun, ^hthat the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”

⁵So Moses said to ⁱthe judges of Israel, ^j“Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor.”

⁶And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, ^kwho were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁷Now ^lwhen Phinehas ^mthe son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose 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 body. So ⁿthe plague was ^ostopped among the children of Israel. ⁹And ^pthose who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

¹⁰Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^11q“Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in ^rMy zeal. ¹²Therefore say, ^s‘Behold, I give to him My ^tcovenant of peace; ¹³and it shall be to him and ^uhis descendants after him a covenant of ^van everlasting priesthood, because he was ^wzealous for his God, and ^xmade ²atonement for the children of Israel.’ ”

¹⁴Now the name of the Israelite who was killed, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s house among the Simeonites. ¹⁵And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of ^yZur; he was head of the people of a father’s house in Midian.

¹⁶Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^17z“Harass the Midianites, and ³attack them; ¹⁸for they harassed you with their ^aschemes ⁴by which they seduced you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister, who was killed in the day of the plague because of Peor.”