Numbers 23-25 (Darby Translation)

Numbers 23

 ¹And Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.

 ²And Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam offered up a bullock and a ram on [each] altar.

 ³And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go; perhaps Jehovah will come to meet me; and whatever he shews me I will tell thee. And he went to a hill.

 ⁴And God met Balaam; and [Balaam] said to him, I have disposed seven altars, and have offered up a bullock and a ram upon [each] altar.

 ⁵And Jehovah put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus shalt thou speak.

 ⁶And he returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.

 ⁷And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east: Come, curse me Jacob, and come, denounce Israel!

 ⁸How shall I curse whom ùGod hath not cursed? or how shall I denounce whom Jehovah doth not denounce?

 ⁹For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: Lo, [it is] a people that shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

 ¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his!

 ¹¹And Balak said to Balaam, What hast thou done to me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.

 ¹²And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which Jehovah puts in my mouth?

 ¹³And Balak said to him, Come, I pray thee, with me to another place, from whence thou wilt see them; thou shalt see only the extremity of them and shalt not see them all, and curse me them from thence.

 ¹⁴And he took him to the watchmen's field, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bullock and a ram on [each] altar.

 ¹⁵And [Balaam] said to Balak, Stand here by thy burnt-offering, and I will go to meet yonder.

 ¹⁶And Jehovah met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus shalt thou speak.

 ¹⁷And he came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him; and Balak said to him, What has Jehovah spoken?

 ¹⁸Then he took up his parable and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear! hearken unto me, son of Zippor!

 ¹⁹ùGod is not a man, that he should lie; neither a son of man, that he should repent. Shall he say and not do? and shall he speak and not make it good?

 ²⁰Behold, I have received [mission] to bless; and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

 ²¹He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen wrong in Israel; Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a king is in his midst.

 ²²ÃƒÂƒÃ‚¹God brought him out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of a buffalo.

 ²³For there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel. At this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath ùGod wrought!

 ²⁴Lo, the people will rise up as a lioness, and lift himself up as a lion. He shall not lie down until he have eaten the prey and drunk the blood of the slain.

 ²⁵And Balak said to Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.

 ²⁶And Balaam answered and said to Balak, Did I not tell thee, saying, All that Jehovah shall speak, that will I do?

 ²⁷And Balak said to Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee to another place; perhaps it will be right in the sight of God that thou curse me them from thence.

 ²⁸And Balak brought Balaam to the top of Peor, which looks over the surface of the waste.

 ²⁹And Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.

 ³⁰And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bullock and a ram on each altar.

Numbers 24

 ¹And Balaam saw that it was good in the sight of Jehovah to bless Israel, and he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

 ²And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel dwelling [in tents] according to his tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him.

 ³And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, and the man of opened eye saith,

 ⁴He saith, who heareth the words of ùGod, who seeth the vision of the Almighty, who falleth down, and who hath his eyes open:

 ⁵How goodly are thy tents, Jacob, and thy tabernacles, Israel!

 ⁶Like valleys are they spread forth, like gardens by the river side, Like aloe-trees which Jehovah hath planted, like cedars beside the waters.

 ⁷Water shall flow out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in great waters, And his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.

 ⁸ùGod brought him out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of a buffalo. He shall consume the nations his enemies, and break their bones, and with his arrows shall smite [them] in pieces.

 ⁹He stooped, he lay down like a lion, and like a lioness: who will stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.

 ¹⁰Then Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and behold, thou hast altogether blessed [them] these three times!

 ¹¹And now flee thou to thy place; I said I would very highly honour thee, and behold, Jehovah has kept thee back from honour.

 ¹²And Balaam said to Balak, Did I not also speak to thy messengers whom thou sentest to me, saying,

 ¹³If Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the commandment of Jehovah to do good or bad out of my heart: what Jehovah shall say, that will I speak?

 ¹⁴And now behold, I go to my people: come, I will admonish thee what this people will do to thy people at the end of days.

 ¹⁵And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, and the man of opened eye saith,

 ¹⁶He saith, who heareth the words of ùGod, who knoweth the knowledge of the Most High, Who seeth the vision of the Almighty, who falleth down, and who hath his eyes open:

 ¹⁷I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh: There cometh a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and he shall cut in pieces the corners of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult.

 ¹⁸And Edom shall be a possession, and Seir a possession, -- they, his enemies; but Israel will do valiantly.

 ¹⁹And one out of Jacob shall have dominion, and will destroy out of the city what remaineth.

 ²⁰And he saw Amalek, and took up his parable, and said, Amalek is the first of the nations, but his latter end shall be for destruction.

 ²¹And he saw the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Firm is thy dwelling-place, and thy nest fixed in the rock;

 ²²But the Kenite shall be consumed, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.

 ²³And he took up his parable, and said, Alas! Who shall live when ùGod doeth this?

 ²⁴And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and afflict Asshur, and afflict Eber, and he also shall be for destruction.

 ²⁵And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.

Numbers 25

 ¹And Israel abode in Shittim; and the people began to commit fornication with the daughters of Moab.

 ²And they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods; and the people ate, and bowed down to their gods.

 ³And Israel joined himself to Baal-Peor; and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel.

 ⁴And Jehovah said to Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up to Jehovah before the sun, that the fierce anger of Jehovah may be turned away from Israel.

 ⁵And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Slay every one his men that have joined themselves to Baal-Peor.

 ⁶And behold, a man of the children of Israel came and brought a Midianitish woman to his brethren, in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of the whole assembly of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the entrance of the tent of meeting.

 ⁷And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, and rose up from among the assembly, and took a javelin in his hand,

 ⁸and he went after the man of Israel into the tent-chamber, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. And the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.

 ⁹And those that died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

 ¹⁰And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

 ¹¹Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.

 ¹²Therefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace!

 ¹³And he shall have it, and his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.

 ¹⁴And the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, the prince of a father's house of the Simeonites.

 ¹⁵And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was tribal head of a father's house in Midian.

 ¹⁶And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

 ¹⁷Harass the Midianites, and smite them,

 ¹⁸for they have harassed you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague because of the matter of Peor.