Numbers 23-25

English Standard Version

Balaam's First Oracle

23 And Balaam said to Balak, ^(A)“Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ²Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam ^(B)offered on each altar a bull and a ram. ³And Balaam said to Balak, ^(C)“Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come ^(D)to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height, ⁴^(E)and God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” ⁵And the Lord ^(F)put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ⁶And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering. ⁷And Balaam ^(G)took up his discourse and said,

“From ^(H)Aram Balak has brought me,
    the king of Moab ^(I)from the eastern mountains:
‘Come, ^(J)curse Jacob for me,
    and come, denounce Israel!’
⁸How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
    How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
⁹For from the top of the crags ^(K)I see him,
    from the hills I behold him;
behold, ^(L)a people dwelling alone,
    and ^(M)not counting itself among the nations!
¹⁰^(N)Who can count the dust of Jacob
    or number the fourth part^[a] of Israel?
Let me die ^(O)the death of the upright,
    and let my end be like his!”

¹¹And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? ^(P)I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” ¹²And he answered and said, ^(Q)“Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

Balaam's Second Oracle

¹³And Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴And he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, ^(R)and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ¹⁵Balaam said to Balak, ^(S)“Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord over there.” ¹⁶And the Lord met Balaam and ^(T)put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.” ¹⁷And he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?” ¹⁸And Balaam took up his discourse and said,

“Rise, Balak, and hear;
    give ear to me, O son of Zippor:
¹⁹^(U)God is not man, that he should lie,
    or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
    Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
²⁰Behold, I received a command to bless:
    ^(V)he has blessed, and ^(W)I cannot revoke it.
²¹^(X)He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob,
    nor has he seen trouble in Israel.
The Lord their God is with them,
    and the shout of a king is among them.
²²^(Y)God brings them out of Egypt
    and is for them like ^(Z)the horns of the wild ox.
²³For there is no enchantment against Jacob,
    no ^(AA)divination against Israel;
now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,
    ^(AB)‘What has God wrought!’
²⁴Behold, a people! ^(AC)As a lioness it rises up
    and as a lion it lifts itself;
^(AD)it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey
    and drunk the blood of the slain.”

²⁵And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.” ²⁶But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ^(AE)‘All that the Lord says, that I must do’?” ²⁷And Balak said to Balaam, ^(AF)“Come now, 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 ^(AG)Peor, which overlooks ^(AH)the desert.^[b] ²⁹And Balaam said to Balak, ^(AI)“Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ³⁰^(AJ)And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Balaam's Third Oracle

24 When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go, as at ^(AK)other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness. ²And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel ^(AL)camping tribe by tribe. And ^(AM)the Spirit of God came upon him, ³and he ^(AN)took up his discourse and said,

“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
    the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,^[c]
⁴the oracle of him who hears the words of God,
    who sees the vision of the Almighty,
    ^(AO)falling down with his eyes uncovered:
⁵How lovely are your tents, O Jacob,
    your encampments, O Israel!
⁶Like palm groves^[d] that stretch afar,
    like gardens beside a river,
^(AP)like aloes ^(AQ)that the Lord has planted,
    like cedar trees beside the waters.
⁷Water shall flow from his buckets,
    and his seed shall be ^(AR)in many waters;
his king shall be higher than ^(AS)Agag,
    and ^(AT)his kingdom shall be exalted.
⁸God brings him out of Egypt
    and is for him like the ^(AU)horns of the wild ox;
he shall ^(AV)eat up the nations, his adversaries,
    and shall ^(AW)break their bones in pieces
    and ^(AX)pierce them through with his arrows.
⁹He crouched, he lay down like a lion
    and ^(AY)like a lioness; who will rouse him up?
^(AZ)Blessed are those who bless you,
    and cursed are those who curse you.”

¹⁰And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he ^(BA)struck his hands together. And Balak said to Balaam, ^(BB)“I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times. ¹¹Therefore now flee to your own place. I said, ^(BC)‘I will certainly honor you,’ but the Lord has held you back from honor.” ¹²And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, ¹³^(BD)‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad ^(BE)of my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak’? ¹⁴And now, behold, I am going to my people. Come, ^(BF)I will let you know what this people will do to your people ^(BG)in the latter days.”

Balaam's Final Oracle

¹⁵^(BH)And he took up his discourse and said,

“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
    the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,
¹⁶the oracle of him who hears the words of God,
    and knows the knowledge of ^(BI)the Most High,
who sees the vision of the Almighty,
    ^(BJ)falling down with his eyes uncovered:
¹⁷^(BK)I see him, but not now;
    I behold him, but not near:
^(BL)a star shall come out of Jacob,
    and ^(BM)a scepter shall rise out of Israel;
it shall ^(BN)crush the forehead^[e] of Moab
    and break down all the sons of Sheth.
¹⁸^(BO)Edom shall be dispossessed;
    ^(BP)Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed.
    Israel is doing valiantly.
¹⁹And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion
    and destroy the survivors of cities!”

²⁰Then he looked on Amalek and ^(BQ)took up his discourse and said,

“Amalek was the first among the nations,
^(BR)but its end is utter destruction.”

²¹And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his discourse and said,

“Enduring is your dwelling place,
and your nest is set in the rock.
²²Nevertheless, Kain shall be burned
when Asshur takes you away captive.”

²³And he took up his discourse and said,

“Alas, who shall live when God does this?
²⁴ But ships shall come from ^(BS)Kittim
and shall afflict Asshur and ^(BT)Eber;
and he too ^(BU)shall come to utter destruction.”

²⁵Then Balaam rose and ^(BV)went back to his place. And Balak also went his way.

Baal Worship at Peor

25 While Israel lived in ^(BW)Shittim, ^(BX)the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. ²^(BY)These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. ³So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. ⁴And the Lord said to Moses, ^(BZ)“Take all the chiefs of the people and ^(CA)hang^[f] them in the sun before the Lord, ^(CB)that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.” ⁵And Moses said to ^(CC)the judges of Israel, ^(CD)“Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.”

⁶And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were ^(CE)weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁷^(CF)When Phinehas ^(CG)the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand ⁸and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. ⁹Nevertheless, ^(CH)those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

The Zeal of Phinehas

¹⁰And the Lord said to Moses, ¹¹“Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he ^(CI)was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in ^(CJ)my jealousy. ¹²Therefore say, ^(CK)‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, ¹³and it shall be to him and to ^(CL)his descendants after him the covenant of ^(CM)a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’”

¹⁴The name of the slain man of Israel, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, chief of a father's house belonging to the Simeonites. ¹⁵And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of ^(CN)Zur, who was the tribal head of a father's house in Midian.

¹⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷^(CO)“Harass the Midianites and strike them down, ¹⁸for they have harassed you with their ^(CP)wiles, with which they beguiled you in the matter of ^(CQ)Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the chief of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague on account of Peor.”