231 Then Balaam said to Balak , "Build seven altars for me here , and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here ." 2 Balak did just as Balaam had spoken , and Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar . 3 Then Balaam said to Balak , "Stand beside your burnt offering , and I will go ; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever e He shows me I will tell you." So he went to a bare hill . 4 Now God met Balaam , and he said to Him, "I have set up the seven altars , and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each altar . 5 Then the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth and said , "Return to Balak , and you shall speak thus ." 6 So he returned to him, and behold , he was standing beside his burnt offering , he and all the leaders of Moab . 7 He took up his discourse and said , "From Aram Balak has brought me, Moab's king from the mountains of the East , ' Come curse Jacob for me, And come , denounce Israel !' 8 " How shall I curse whom God has not cursed ? And how can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced ? 9 "As I see him from the top of the rocks , And I look at him from the hills ; Behold , a people who dwells apart , And will not be reckoned among the nations . 10 " Who can count the dust of Jacob , Or number the fourth part of Israel ? Let me die the death of the upright , And let my end be like his!" 11 Then Balak said to Balaam , "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies , but behold , you have actually blessed them!" 12 He replied , "Must I not be careful to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth ?"
13 Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from where e you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there ." 14 So he took him to the field of Zophim , to the top of Pisgah , and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar 15 And he said to Balak , "Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet the Lord over there ." 16 Then the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said , "Return to Balak , and thus you shall speak ." 17 He came to him, and behold , he was standing beside his burnt offering , and the leaders of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, "What has the Lord spoken ?" 18 Then he took up his discourse and said , "Arise , O Balak , and hear ; Give ear to me, O son of Zippor ! 19 " God is not a man , that He should lie , Nor a son of man , that He should repent ; Has He said , and will He not do it? Or has He spoken , and will He not make it good 20 "Behold , I have received a command to bless ; When He has blessed , then I cannot revoke it. 21 " He has not observed misfortune in Jacob ; Nor has He seen trouble in Israel ; The Lord his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them 22 " God brings them out of Egypt , He is for them like the horns of the wild ox . 23 " For there is no omen against Jacob , Nor is there any divination against Israel ; At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob And to Israel , what God has done ! 24 " Behold , a people rises like a lioness , And as a lion it lifts itself; It will not lie down until it devours the prey , And drinks the blood of the slain ." 25 Then Balak said to Balaam , "Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all !" 26 But Balaam replied to Balak , "Did I not tell you, ' Whatever e the Lord speaks , that I must do '?" 27 Then Balak said to Balaam , "Please come , I will take you to another place ; perhaps it will be agreeable with God that you curse them for me from there ." 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks e e the wasteland . 29 Balaam said to Balak , "Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here ." 30 Balak did just as Balaam had said , and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar .
241 When Balaam saw that it pleased e the Lord to bless Israel , he did not go as at other times to seek omens but he set his face toward the wilderness . 2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe ; and the Spirit of God came upon him. 3 He took up his discourse and said , " The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor , And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened ; 4 The oracle of him who hears the words of God , Who sees the vision of the Almighty , Falling down , yet having his eyes uncovered , 5 How fair are your tents , O Jacob , Your dwellings , O Israel ! 6 "Like valleys that stretch out, Like gardens beside the river , Like aloes planted by the Lord , Like cedars beside the waters . 7 "Water will flow from his buckets , And his seed will be by many waters , And his king shall be higher than Agag , And his kingdom shall be exalted . 8 " God brings him out of Egypt , He is for him like the horns of the wild ox . He will devour the nations who are his adversaries , And will crush their bones in pieces, And shatter them with his arrows . 9 " He couches , he lies down as a lion , And as a lion , who dares rouse him? Blessed is everyone who blesses you, And cursed is everyone who curses you."
10 Then Balak's anger burned against Balaam , and he struck his hands together ; and Balak said to Balaam , "I called you to curse my enemies , but behold , you have persisted in blessing them these three times ! 11 "Therefore, flee to your place now . I said I would honor you greatly , but behold , the Lord has held you back from honor ." 12 Balaam said to Balak , " Did I not tell your messengers whom you had sent to me, saying , 13 'Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold , I could not do anything contrary to the command of the Lord , either good or bad , of my own accord . What the Lord speaks , that I will speak '? 14 "And now , behold , I am going to my people ; come , and I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the days to come ."
15 He took up his discourse and said , " The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor , And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened , 16 The oracle of him who hears the words of God , And knows the knowledge of the Most High , Who sees the vision of the Almighty , Falling down , yet having his eyes uncovered . 17 "I see him, but not now ; I behold him, but not near ; A star shall come forth from Jacob , A scepter shall rise from Israel , And shall crush through the forehead of Moab , And tear down all the sons of Sheth . 18 " Edom shall be a possession , Seir , its enemies , also will be a possession , While Israel performs valiantly . 19 "One from Jacob shall have dominion , And will destroy the remnant from the city ." 20 And he looked at Amalek and took up his discourse and said , "Amalek was the first of the nations , But his end shall be destruction ." 21 And he looked at the Kenite , and took up his discourse and said , "Your dwelling place is enduring , And your nest is set in the cliff . 22 "Nevertheless e Kain will be consumed ; How long will Asshur keep you captive ?" 23 Then he took up his discourse and said , "Alas , who can live except God has ordained it? 24 "But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim , And they shall afflict Asshur and will afflict Eber ; So they also will come to destruction ." 25 Then Balaam arose and departed and returned to his place , and Balak also went his way .
251 While Israel remained at Shittim , the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab . 2 For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods , and the people ate and bowed down to their gods . 3 So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor , and the Lord was angry e against Israel . 4 The Lord said to Moses , "Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the Lord , so that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel ." 5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel , "Each of you slay his men who have joined themselves to Baal of Peor ."
6 Then behold , one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman , in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel , while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting . 7 When Phinehas the son of Eleazar , the son of Aaron the priest , saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand , 8 and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and pierced both of them through , the man of Israel and the woman , through the body . So the plague on the sons of Israel was checked . 9 Those who died by the plague were 24,000 e e . 10 Then the Lord spoke to Moses , saying , 11 " Phinehas the son of Eleazar , the son of Aaron the priest , has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy . 12 "Therefore say , ' Behold , I give him My covenant of peace ; 13 and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood , because e he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel .' " 14 Now the name of the slain man of Israel who was slain with the Midianite woman , was Zimri the son of Salu , a leader of a father's household among the Simeonites . 15 The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi the daughter of Zur , who was head of the people of a father's household in Midian .
16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses , saying , 17 " Be hostile to the Midianites and strike them; 18 for they have been hostile to you with their tricks , with which they have deceived you in the affair of Peor and in the affair of Cozbi , the daughter of the leader of Midian , their sister who was slain on the day of the plague because e of Peor ."
