³⁷ The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab.^{[a] (A)}He is the father of the Moabites to this day.

⁹ And the Lord said to me, ^(A)‘Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given ^(B)Ar to ^(C)the people of Lot for a possession.’

Moab Rebels Against Israel

3 ^(A)In the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twelve years. ² He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the ^(B)pillar of Baal ^(C)that his father had made. ³ Nevertheless, he clung to ^(D)the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(E)which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.

⁴ Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, ^(F)and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. ⁵ But ^(G)when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ⁶ So King Jehoram marched out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. ⁷ And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to battle against Moab?” And he said, “I will go. ^(H)I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” ⁸ Then he said, “By which way shall we march?” Jehoram answered, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom.”

⁹ So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and ^(I)the king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. ¹⁰ Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! ^(J)The Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” ^11 (K)And Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?” Then one of the king of Israel's servants answered, ^(L)“Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, ^(M)who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” ¹² And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

¹³ And Elisha said to the king of Israel, ^(N)“What have I to do with you? Go to ^(O)the prophets of your father and to ^(P)the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is ^(Q)the Lord who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” ¹⁴ And Elisha said, ^(R)“As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. ¹⁵ But now ^(S)bring me a musician.” And when the musician played, ^(T)the hand of the Lord came upon him. ¹⁶ And he said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I will make this dry streambed full of pools.’ ¹⁷ For thus says the Lord, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.’ ¹⁸ This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, ¹⁹ and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water ^(U)and ruin every good piece of land with stones.” ²⁰ The next morning, about the time of ^(V)offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water.

²¹ When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at the border. ²² And when they rose early in the morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. ²³ And they said, “This is blood; the kings have surely fought together and struck one another down. Now then, Moab, to the spoil!” ²⁴ But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites, till they fled before them. And they went forward, striking the Moabites as they went.^{[a] 25} And they overthrew the cities, and ^(W)on every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it was covered. They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees, till only its stones were left in ^(X)Kir-hareseth, and the slingers surrounded and attacked it. ²⁶ When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700 ^(Y)swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom, but they could not. ²⁷ Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place ^(Z)and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

David's Victories

8 ^(A)After this David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and David took ^(B)Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines.

^2 (C)And he defeated Moab and he measured them with a line, making them lie down on the ground. Two lines he measured to be put to death, and one full line to be spared. And the Moabites ^(D)became servants to David and ^(E)brought tribute.

³ David also defeated ^(F)Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of ^(G)Zobah, as he went to restore his power at the river Euphrates. ^4 (H)And David took from him 1,700 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David ^(I)hamstrung all the chariot horses but left enough for 100 chariots. ^5 (J)And when the ^(K)Syrians of Damascus came to help ^(L)Hadadezer king of ^(M)Zobah, David struck down 22,000 men of the Syrians. ⁶ Then David put garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Syrians ^(N)became servants to David and brought tribute. ^(O)And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. ⁷ And David took ^(P)the shields of gold that were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ And from Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took very much bronze.

⁹ When Toi king of ^(Q)Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer, ¹⁰ Toi sent his son Joram to King David, to ask about his health and to bless him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer had often been at war with Toi. And Joram brought with him articles of silver, of gold, and of bronze. ^11 (R)These also King David dedicated to the Lord, together with the silver and gold that he dedicated from all the nations he subdued, ¹² from Edom, ^(S)Moab, ^(T)the Ammonites, ^(U)the Philistines, ^(V)Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of ^(W)Zobah.

¹³ And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in ^(X)the Valley of Salt. ¹⁴ Then he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom he put garrisons, ^(Y)and all the Edomites became David's servants. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.

David's Officials

¹⁵ So David reigned over all Israel. And David administered justice and equity to all his people. ^16 (Z)Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and ^(AA)Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder, ¹⁷ and ^(AB)Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, and ^(AC)Seraiah was secretary, ¹⁸ and ^(AD)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over^[a] the ^(AE)Cherethites and the Pelethites, and David's sons were priests.

¹⁰ Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, ^(A)to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.”

3 ^(A)Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. ² It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. ³ These are the nations: ^(B)the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. ⁴ They were for ^(C)the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. ⁵ So the people of Israel lived ^(D)among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ^6 (E)And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.

Othniel

^7 (F)And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and ^(G)the Asheroth. ⁸ Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, ^(H)and he sold them into the hand of ^(I)Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. ⁹ But when the people of Israel ^(J)cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a ^(K)deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, ^(L)Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. ^10 (M)The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. ^11 (N)So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

^12 (O)And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon ^(P)the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³ He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the ^(Q)Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of ^(R)the city of palms. ¹⁴ And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵ Then the people of Israel ^(S)cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them ^(T)a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, ^(U)a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶ And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit^[a] in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. ¹⁷ And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸ And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. ¹⁹ But he himself turned back ^(V)at the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. ²⁰ And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his ^(W)cool roof chamber. ^(X)And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. ²¹ And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. ²² And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out. ²³ Then Ehud went out into the porch^[b] and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him ^(Y)and locked them.

²⁴ When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, ^(Z)“Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.” ²⁵ And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.

²⁶ Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond ^(AA)the idols and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷ When he arrived, ^(AB)he sounded the trumpet in ^(AC)the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader. ²⁸ And he said to them, “Follow after me, ^(AD)for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized ^(AE)the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over. ²⁹ And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped. ³⁰ So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. ^(AF)And the land had rest for eighty years.

Shamgar

³¹ After him was ^(AG)Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines ^(AH)with an oxgoad, and he also ^(AI)saved Israel.

^3 (A)“No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever,

¹⁹ And when you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, ^(A)do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to ^(B)the sons of Lot for a possession.’

Balak Summons Balaam

22 Then ^(A)the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. ² And ^(B)Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. ³ And ^(C)Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. ⁴ And Moab said to ^(D)the elders of Midian, “This horde will now lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, ^5 (E)sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor ^(F)at Pethor, which is near the River^[a] in the land of the people of Amaw,^[b] to call him, saying, “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite me. ^6 (G)Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from 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 ^(H)the elders of Midian departed with ^(I)the fees for divination in their hand. And they came to Balaam and gave him Balak's message. ⁸ And he said to them, “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 (J)And God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?” ¹⁰ And Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, ¹¹ ‘Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Now come, curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out.’” ¹² God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for ^(K)they are blessed.” ¹³ So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your own land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.” ¹⁴ So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.”

¹⁵ Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these. ¹⁶ And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Let nothing hinder you from coming to me, ^17 (L)for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. ^(M)Come, curse this people for me.’” ¹⁸ But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, ^(N)“Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, ^(O)I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more. ¹⁹ So you, too, ^(P)please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.” ^20 (Q)And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; ^(R)but only do what I tell you.” ²¹ So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.

Balaam's Donkey and the Angel

²² But God's anger was kindled because he went, ^(S)and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way ^(T)as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³ And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. ²⁴ Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. ²⁵ And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall. So he struck her again. ²⁶ Then the angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. ²⁷ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. ²⁸ Then the Lord ^(U)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 made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.” ³⁰ And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.”

³¹ Then the Lord ^(V)opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell 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 ^(W)to oppose you because your way is perverse^[c] before me. ³³ The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.” ³⁴ Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, ^(X)“I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” ³⁵ And the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, ^(Y)but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.

³⁶ When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, ^(Z)on the border formed by the Arnon, at the extremity of the border. ³⁷ And Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to ^(AA)honor you?” ³⁸ Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come to you! Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? ^(AB)The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.” ³⁹ Then Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. ⁴⁰ And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent for Balaam and for the princes who were with him.

⁴¹ And in the morning Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal, and from there he saw a fraction of the people.