⁷ So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand, and they came to Balaam and gave him Balak’s message.^(A)

⁷ Then Saul replied to the young man, “But if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What have we?”^{(A) 8} The young man answered Saul again, “Here, I have with me a quarter shekel of silver; I will give it to the man of God, to tell us our way.”

¹¹ Woe to them! For they go the way of Cain and abandon themselves to Balaam’s error for the sake of gain and perish in Korah’s rebellion.^(A)

¹⁵ They have left the straight road and have gone astray, following the road of Balaam son of Bosor,^[a] who loved the wages of doing wrong^(A)

¹¹ they must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for sordid gain what it is not right to teach.^(A)

⁹ But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.^{(A) 10} For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

¹⁸ For such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites,^[a] and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded.^(A)

¹⁹ You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death those who should not die and keeping alive those who should not live, by your lies to my people, who listen to lies.^(A)