Balak Sends for Balaam

22 Then ^(A)the children of Israel moved, and camped in the plains of Moab on the side of the Jordan across from Jericho.

² Now ^(B)Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. ³ And ^(C)Moab was exceedingly afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was sick with dread because of the children of Israel. ⁴ So Moab said to ^(D)the elders of Midian, “Now this company will ^[a]lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time. ⁵ Then ^(E)he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at ^(F)Pethor, which is near ^[b]the River in the land of ^[c]the sons of his people, to call him, saying: “Look, a people has come from Egypt. See, they cover the face of the earth, and are settling next to me! ^6 (G)Therefore please come at once, ^(H)curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

⁷ So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with ^(I)the diviner’s fee in their hand, and they came to Balaam and spoke to him the words of Balak. ⁸ And he said to them, ^(J)“Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the Lord speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

^9 (K)Then God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?”

¹⁰ So Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, ¹¹ ‘Look, a people has come out of Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth. Come now, curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to overpower them and drive them out.’ ”

¹² And God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for ^(L)they are blessed.”

¹³ So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to give me permission to go with you.”

¹⁴ And the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak, and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.”

¹⁵ Then Balak again sent princes, more numerous and more ^[d]honorable than they. ¹⁶ And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me; ¹⁷ for I will certainly ^(M)honor you greatly, and I will do whatever you say to me. ^(N)Therefore please come, curse this people for me.’ ”

¹⁸ Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, ^(O)“Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, ^(P)I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more. ¹⁹ Now therefore, please, you also ^(Q)stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.”

^20 (R)And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but ^(S)only the word which I speak to you—that you shall do.” ²¹ So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.

Balaam, the Donkey, and the Angel

²² Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, ^(T)and the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³ Now ^(U)the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field. So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road. ²⁴ Then the Angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. ²⁵ And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck her again. ²⁶ Then the Angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. ²⁷ And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

²⁸ Then the Lord ^(V)opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”

²⁹ And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have ^[e]abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, ^(W)for now I would kill you!”

^30 (X)So the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever ^[f]disposed to do this to you?”

And he said, “No.”

³¹ Then the Lord ^(Y)opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. ³² And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out ^[g]to stand against you, because your way is ^(Z)perverse^[h] before Me. ³³ The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.”

³⁴ And Balaam said to the Angel of the Lord, ^(AA)“I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it ^[i]displeases You, I will turn back.”

³⁵ Then the Angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, ^(AB)but only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

³⁶ Now when Balak heard that Balaam was coming, ^(AC)he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, ^(AD)which is on the border at the Arnon, the boundary of the territory. ³⁷ Then Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not earnestly send to you, calling for you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able ^(AE)to honor you?”

³⁸ And Balaam said to Balak, “Look, I have come to you! Now, have I any power at all to say anything? ^(AF)The word that God puts in my mouth, that I must speak.” ³⁹ So Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kirjath Huzoth. ⁴⁰ Then Balak offered oxen and sheep, and he sent some to Balaam and to the princes who were with him.

Balaam’s First Prophecy

⁴¹ So it was, the next day, that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the ^(AG)high places of Baal, that from there he might observe ^[j]the extent of the people.

The Prophecies of Balaam

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

² And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam ^(AI)offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ³ Then Balaam said to Balak, ^(AJ)“Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come ^(AK)to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a desolate height. ^4 (AL)And 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.”

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

⁷ And he ^(AN)took up his ^[k]oracle and said:

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

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

Balaam’s Second Prophecy

¹³ Then 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.” ¹⁴ So he brought him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, ^(AX)and built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

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

¹⁶ Then the Lord met Balaam, and ^(AY)put a word in his mouth, and said, “Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ¹⁷ So 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?”

¹⁸ Then he took up his oracle and said:

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

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

Balaam’s Third Prophecy

²⁷ Then 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.” ²⁸ So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that ^(BL)overlooks the ^[q]wasteland. ²⁹ Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ³⁰ And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.

Balaam Foretells the Happiness of Israel

24 Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at ^(BM)other times, to seek to use ^[r]sorcery, but he set his face toward the wilderness. ² And Balaam raised his eyes, and saw Israel ^(BN)encamped according to their tribes; and ^(BO)the Spirit of God came upon him.

^3 (BP)Then he took up his oracle and said:

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

¹² So 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’? ¹⁴ And now, indeed, I am going to my people. Come, ^(CF)I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the ^(CG)latter days.”

Balaam’s Fourth Prophecy

¹⁵ So he took up his oracle and said:

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

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

²³ Then he took up his oracle and said:

²⁵ So Balaam rose and departed and ^(CO)returned to his place; Balak also went his way.

Israel’s Harlotry in Moab

25 Now Israel remained in ^(CP)Acacia Grove,^[y] and the ^(CQ)people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. ^2 (CR)They invited the people to ^(CS)the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and ^(CT)bowed down to their gods. ³ So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and ^(CU)the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.

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

⁵ So Moses said to ^(CX)the judges of Israel, ^(CY)“Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor.”

⁶ And 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, ^(CZ)who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁷ Now ^(DA)when Phinehas ^(DB)the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; ⁸ and 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 ^(DC)the plague was ^(DD)stopped among the children of Israel. ⁹ And ^(DE)those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^11 (DF)“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 ^(DG)My zeal. ¹² Therefore say, ^(DH)‘Behold, I give to him My ^(DI)covenant of peace; ¹³ and it shall be to him and ^(DJ)his descendants after him a covenant of ^(DK)an everlasting priesthood, because he was ^(DL)zealous for his God, and ^(DM)made ^[z]atonement for the children of Israel.’ ”

¹⁴ Now 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. ¹⁵ And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of ^(DN)Zur; he was head of the people of a father’s house in Midian.

¹⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^17 (DO)“Harass the Midianites, and ^[aa]attack them; ¹⁸ for they harassed you with their ^(DP)schemes^[ab] by 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.”

Vengeance on the Midianites

31 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^2 (A)“Take vengeance on the Midianites for the children of Israel. Afterward you shall ^(B)be gathered to your people.”

³ So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm some of yourselves for war, and let them go against the Midianites to take vengeance for the Lord on ^(C)Midian. ⁴ A thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.”

⁵ So there were recruited from the divisions of Israel one thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶ Then Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from each tribe; he sent them to the war with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the holy articles and ^(D)the signal trumpets in his hand. ⁷ And they warred against the Midianites, just as the Lord commanded Moses, and ^(E)they killed all the ^(F)males. ⁸ They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of those who were killed—^(G)Evi, Rekem, ^(H)Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. ^(I)Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword.

⁹ And the children of Israel took the women of Midian captive, with their little ones, and took as spoil all their cattle, all their flocks, and all their goods. ¹⁰ They also burned with fire all the cities where they dwelt, and all their forts. ¹¹ And ^(J)they took all the spoil and all the booty—of man and beast.

Return from the War

¹² Then they brought the captives, the booty, and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. ¹³ And Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation, went to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, who had come from the battle.

¹⁵ And Moses said to them: “Have you kept ^(K)all the women alive? ¹⁶ Look, ^(L)these women caused the children of Israel, through the ^(M)counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and ^(N)there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. ¹⁷ Now therefore, ^(O)kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man intimately. ¹⁸ But keep alive ^(P)for yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man intimately. ¹⁹ And as for you, ^(Q)remain outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person, and ^(R)whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. ²⁰ Purify every garment, everything made of leather, everything woven of goats’ hair, and everything made of wood.”

²¹ Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to the battle, “This is the ^[a]ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses: ²² Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³ everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire, and it shall be clean; and it shall be purified ^(S)with the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire you shall put through water. ^24 (T)And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may come into the camp.”

Division of the Plunder

²⁵ Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁶ “Count up the plunder that was ^[b]taken—of man and beast—you and Eleazar the priest and the chief fathers of the congregation; ²⁷ and ^(U)divide the plunder into two parts, between those who took part in the war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation. ²⁸ And levy a ^[c]tribute for the Lord on the men of war who went out to battle: ^(V)one of every five hundred of the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep; ²⁹ take it from their half, and ^(W)give it to Eleazar the priest as a heave offering to the Lord. ³⁰ And from the children of Israel’s half you shall take ^(X)one of every fifty, drawn from the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep, from all the livestock, and give them to the Levites ^(Y)who ^[d]keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.” ³¹ So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

³² The booty remaining from the plunder, which the men of war had taken, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, ³³ seventy-two thousand cattle, ³⁴ sixty-one thousand donkeys, ³⁵ and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of women who had not known a man intimately. ³⁶ And the half, the portion for those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep; ³⁷ and the Lord’s ^[e]tribute of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five. ³⁸ The cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was seventy-two. ³⁹ The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord’s tribute was sixty-one. ⁴⁰ The persons were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty-two persons. ⁴¹ So Moses gave the tribute which was the Lord’s heave offering to Eleazar the priest, ^(Z)as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴² And from the children of Israel’s half, which Moses separated from the men who fought— ⁴³ now the half belonging to the congregation was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, ⁴⁴ thirty-six thousand cattle, ⁴⁵ thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, ⁴⁶ and sixteen thousand persons— ⁴⁷ and ^(AA)from the children of Israel’s half Moses took one of every fifty, drawn from man and beast, and gave them to the Levites, who kept charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴⁸ Then the officers who were over thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, came near to Moses; ⁴⁹ and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a count of the men of war who are under our command, and not a man of us is missing. ⁵⁰ Therefore we have brought an offering for the Lord, what every man found of ornaments of gold: armlets and bracelets and signet rings and earrings and necklaces, ^(AB)to make ^[f]atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” ⁵¹ So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, all the fashioned ornaments. ⁵² And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord, from the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. ^53 (AC)(The men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.) ⁵⁴ And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of meeting ^(AD)as a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord.