Numbers 24–25

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.”