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.” ² Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam ^(B)offered on each altar a bull and a ram. ³ And 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.” ⁵ And the Lord ^(F)put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ⁶ And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering. ⁷ And Balaam ^(G)took up his discourse and said,

¹¹ And 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.” ¹² And he answered and said, ^(Q)“Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

Balaam's Second Oracle

¹³ And 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.” ¹⁴ And 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. ¹⁵ Balaam said to Balak, ^(S)“Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord over there.” ¹⁶ And the Lord met Balaam and ^(T)put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.” ¹⁷ And 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?” ¹⁸ And Balaam took up his discourse and said,

²⁵ And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.” ²⁶ But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ^(AE)‘All that the Lord says, that I must do’?” ²⁷ And 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.” ²⁸ So Balak took Balaam to the top of ^(AG)Peor, which overlooks ^(AH)the desert.^{[b] 29} And 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. ² And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel ^(AL)camping tribe by tribe. And ^(AM)the Spirit of God came upon him, ³ and he ^(AN)took up his discourse and said,

¹⁰ And 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. ¹¹ Therefore now flee to your own place. I said, ^(BC)‘I will certainly honor you,’ but the Lord has held you back from honor.” ¹² And 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’? ¹⁴ And 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,

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

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

²³ And he took up his discourse and said,

²⁵ Then 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. ³ So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. ⁴ And 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.” ⁵ And 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.”

⁶ And 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 ⁸ and 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. ⁹ Nevertheless, ^(CH)those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

The Zeal of Phinehas

¹⁰ And 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. ¹² Therefore say, ^(CK)‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, ¹³ and 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.’”

¹⁴ The 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. ¹⁵ And 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.

¹⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^17 (CO)“Harass the Midianites and strike them down, ¹⁸ for 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.”

The Triumphal Entry

11 ^(A)Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to ^(B)Bethphage and Bethany, at ^(C)the Mount of Olives, Jesus^[a] sent ^(D)two of his disciples ² and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, ^(E)on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. ³ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” ⁴ And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. ⁵ And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. ⁷ And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. ⁸ And many ^(F)spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. ⁹ And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, ^(G)“Hosanna! ^(H)Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁰ Blessed is ^(I)the coming ^(J)kingdom of ^(K)our father ^(L)David! ^(M)Hosanna ^(N)in the highest!”

^11 (O)And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, ^(P)he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

^12 (Q)On the following day, when they came from Bethany, ^(R)he was hungry. ^13 (S)And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for ^(T)it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

^15 (U)And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of ^(V)the money-changers and the seats of those who sold ^(W)pigeons. ¹⁶ And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷ And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ^(X)‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But ^(Y)you have made it a den of robbers.” ¹⁸ And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and ^(Z)were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because ^(AA)all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. ^19 (AB)And when evening came they^[b] went out of the city.

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree

^20 (AC)As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹ And Peter remembered and said to him, ^(AD)“Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered them, “Have ^(AE)faith in God. ^23 (AF)Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ^(AG)‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not ^(AH)doubt in his heart, but ^(AI)believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, ^(AJ)whatever you ask in prayer, ^(AK)believe that you ^(AL)have received^[c] it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And whenever ^(AM)you stand praying, ^(AN)forgive, ^(AO)if you have anything against anyone, so that ^(AP)your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”^[d]

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

^27 (AQ)And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, ²⁸ and they said to him, ^(AR)“By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” ²⁹ Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was the baptism of John ^(AS)from heaven or from man? Answer me.” ³¹ And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ^(AT)‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³² But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—^(AU)they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was ^(AV)a prophet. ³³ So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”