Numbers 21-25

Living Bible

21 When the king of Arad heard that the Israelis were approaching (for they were traveling the same route as the spies), he mobilized his army and attacked Israel, taking some of the men as prisoners. ² Then the people of Israel vowed to the Lord that if he would help them conquer the king of Arad and his people, they would completely annihilate all the cities of that area. ³ The Lord heeded their request and defeated the Canaanites; and the Israelis completely destroyed them and their cities. The name of the region was thereafter called Hormah (meaning “Utterly Destroyed”).

⁴ Then the people of Israel returned to Mount Hor, and from there continued southward along the road to the Red Sea in order to go around the land of Edom. The people were very discouraged; ⁵ they began to murmur against God and to complain against Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they whined. “There is nothing to eat here, and nothing to drink, and we hate this insipid manna.”

⁶ So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among them to punish them, and many of them were bitten and died.

⁷ Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against Jehovah and against you. Pray to him to take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸ Then the Lord told him, “Make a bronze replica^[a] of one of these snakes and attach it to the top of a pole; anyone who is bitten shall live if he simply looks at it!”

⁹ So Moses made the replica, and whenever anyone who had been bitten looked at the bronze snake, he recovered!

¹⁰ Israel journeyed next to Oboth and camped there. ¹¹ Then they went on to Iyeabarim, in the wilderness, a short distance east of Moab, ¹² and from there they traveled to the valley of the brook Zared and set up camp. ¹³ Then they moved to the far side of the Arnon River, near the borders of the Amorites. (The Arnon River is the boundary line between the Moabites and the Amorites. ¹⁴ This fact is mentioned in The Book of the Wars of Jehovah, where it is stated that the valley of the Arnon River and the city of Waheb ¹⁵ lie between the Amorites and the people of Moab.)

¹⁶ Then Israel traveled to Beer (meaning “A Well”). This is the place where the Lord told Moses, “Summon the people, and I will give them water.” ^17-18 What happened is described in this song the people sang:

Then they left the desert and proceeded on through Mattanah, ¹⁹ Nahaliel, and Bamoth; ²⁰ then to the valley in the plateau of Moab, which overlooks the desert with Mount Pisgah in the distance.

²¹ Israel now sent ambassadors to King Sihon of the Amorites.

²² “Let us travel through your land,” they requested. “We will not leave the road until we have passed beyond your borders. We won’t trample your fields or touch your vineyards or drink your water.”

²³ But King Sihon refused. Instead he mobilized his army and attacked Israel in the wilderness, battling them at Jahaz. ²⁴ But Israel slaughtered them and occupied their land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River, as far as the borders of the Ammonites; but they were stopped there by the rugged terrain.^[b]

^25-26 So Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and lived in them, including the city of Heshbon, which had been King Sihon’s capital. ^27-30 The ancient poets had referred to King Sihon in this poem:

^31-32 While Israel was there in the Amorite country, Moses sent spies to look over the Jazer area; he followed up with an armed attack, capturing all of the towns and driving out the Amorites. ³³ They next turned their attention to the city of Bashan, but King Og of Bashan met them with his army at Edrei. ³⁴ The Lord told Moses not to fear—that the enemy was already conquered! “The same thing will happen to King Og as happened to King Sihon at Heshbon,” the Lord assured him. ³⁵ And sure enough, Israel was victorious and killed King Og, his sons, and his subjects, so that not a single survivor remained; and Israel occupied the land.

22 The people of Israel now traveled to the plains of Moab and camped east of the Jordan River opposite Jericho. ^2-3 When King Balak of Moab (the son of Zippor) realized how many of them there were, and when he learned what they had done to the Amorites, he and his people were terrified. ⁴ They quickly consulted with the leaders of Midian.

“This mob will eat us like an ox eats grass,” they exclaimed.

So King Balak ^5-6 sent messengers to Balaam (son of Beor) who was living in his native land of Pethor, near the Euphrates River. He begged Balaam to come and help him.

“A vast horde of people has arrived from Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth and are headed toward me,” he frantically explained. “Please come and curse them for me, so that I can drive them out of my land; for I know what fantastic blessings fall on those whom you bless, and I also know that those whom you curse are doomed.”

⁷ The messengers he sent were some of the top leaders of Moab and Midian. They went to Balaam with money in hand and urgently explained to him what Balak wanted.

⁸ “Stay here overnight,” Balaam said, “and I’ll tell you in the morning whatever the Lord directs me to say.” So they did.

⁹ That night God came to Balaam and asked him, “Who are these men?”

¹⁰ “They have come from King Balak of Moab,” he replied. ¹¹ “The king says that a vast horde of people from Egypt has arrived at his border, and he wants me to go at once and curse them, in the hope that he can battle them successfully.”

¹² “Don’t do it!” God told him. “You are not to curse them, for I have blessed them!”

¹³ The next morning Balaam told the men, “Go on home! The Lord won’t let me do it.”

¹⁴ So King Balak’s ambassadors returned without him and reported his refusal. ¹⁵ Balak tried again. This time he sent a larger number of even more distinguished ambassadors than the former group. ^16-17 They came to Balaam with this message:

“King Balak pleads with you to come. He promises you great honors plus any payment you ask. Name your own figure! Only come and curse these people for us.”

¹⁸ But Balaam replied, “If he were to give me a palace filled with silver and gold, I could do nothing contrary to the command of the Lord my God. ¹⁹ However, stay here tonight so that I can find out whether the Lord will add anything to what he said before.”

²⁰ That night God told Balaam, “You may get up and go with these men, but be sure to say only what I tell you to.”

²¹ So the next morning he saddled his donkey and started off with them. ^22-23 But God was angry about Balaam’s eager attitude,^[c] so he sent an Angel to stand in the road to kill him. As Balaam and two servants were riding along, Balaam’s donkey suddenly saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword. She bolted off the road into a field, but Balaam beat her back onto the road. ²⁴ Now the Angel of the Lord stood at a place where the road went between two vineyard walls. ²⁵ When the donkey saw him standing there, she squirmed past by pressing against the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot in the process. So he beat her again. ²⁶ Then the Angel of the Lord moved farther down the road and stood in a place so narrow that the donkey couldn’t get by at all. ²⁷ So she lay down in the road! In a great fit of temper Balaam beat her again with his staff.

²⁸ Then the Lord caused the donkey to speak! “What have I done that deserves your beating me these three times?” she asked.

²⁹ “Because you have made me look like a fool!” Balaam shouted. “I wish I had a sword with me, for I would kill you.”

³⁰ “Have I ever done anything like this before in my entire life?” the donkey asked.

“No,” he admitted.

³¹ Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes and he saw the Angel standing in the roadway with drawn sword, and he fell flat on the ground before him.

³² “Why did you beat your donkey those three times?” the Angel demanded. “I have come to stop you because you are headed for destruction. ³³ Three times the donkey saw me and shied away from me; otherwise I would certainly have killed you by now and spared her.”

³⁴ Then Balaam confessed, “I have sinned. I didn’t realize you were there. I will go back home if you don’t want me to go on.”

³⁵ But the Angel told him, “Go with the men, but say only what I tell you to say.” So Balaam went on with them. ³⁶ When King Balak heard that Balaam was on the way, he left the capital and went out to meet him at the Arnon River, at the border of his land.

³⁷ “Why did you delay so long?” he asked Balaam. “Didn’t you believe me when I said I would give you great honors?”

³⁸ Balaam replied, “I have come, but I have no power to say anything except what God tells me to say; and that is what I shall speak.” ³⁹ Balaam accompanied the king to Kiriathhuzoth, ⁴⁰ where King Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and gave animals to Balaam and the ambassadors for their sacrifices. ⁴¹ The next morning Balak took Balaam to the top of Mount Bamoth-baal, from which he could see the people of Israel spread out before him.

23 Balaam said to the king, “Build seven altars here, and prepare seven young bulls and seven rams for sacrifice.”

² Balak followed his instructions, and a young bull and a ram were sacrificed on each altar.

^3-4 Then Balaam said to the king, “Stand here by your burnt offerings and I will see if the Lord will meet me; and I will tell you what he says to me.” So he went up to a barren height, and God met him there. Balaam told the Lord, “I have prepared seven altars and have sacrificed a young bull and a ram on each.” ⁵ Then the Lord gave Balaam a message for King Balak.

⁶ When Balaam returned, the king was standing beside the burnt offerings with all the princes of Moab. ^7-10 This was Balaam’s message:

¹¹ “What have you done to me?” demanded King Balak. “I told you to curse my enemies, and now you have blessed them!”

¹² But Balaam replied, “Can I say anything except what Jehovah tells me to?”

¹³ Then Balak told him, “Come with me to another place; there you will see only a portion of the nation of Israel. Curse at least that many!”

¹⁴ So King Balak took Balaam into the fields of Zophim at the top of Mount Pisgah, and built seven altars there; and he offered up a young bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵ Then Balaam said to the king, “Stand here by your burnt offering while I go to meet the Lord.” ¹⁶ And the Lord met Balaam and told him what to say. ¹⁷ So he returned to where the king and the princes of Moab were standing beside their burnt offerings.

“What has Jehovah said?” the king eagerly inquired.

^18-24 And he replied,

²⁵ “If you aren’t going to curse them, at least don’t bless them!” the king exclaimed to Balaam.

²⁶ But Balaam replied, “Didn’t I tell you that I must say whatever Jehovah tells me to?”

²⁷ Then the king said to Balaam, “I will take you to yet another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them from there.”

²⁸ So King Balak took Balaam to the top of Mount Peor, overlooking the desert. ²⁹ Balaam again told the king to build seven altars, and to prepare seven young bulls and seven rams for the sacrifice. ³⁰ The king did as Balaam said, and offered a young bull and ram on every altar.

24 Balaam realized by now that Jehovah planned to bless Israel, so he didn’t even go to meet the Lord as he had earlier. Instead, he went at once and looked out toward the camp of Israel ² which stretched away across the plains, divided by tribal areas.

Then the Spirit of God came upon him, ^3-9 and he spoke this prophecy concerning them:

¹⁰ King Balak was livid with rage by now. Striking his hands together in anger and disgust he shouted, “I called you to curse my enemies and instead you have blessed them three times. ¹¹ Get out of here! Go back home! I had planned to promote you to great honor, but Jehovah has kept you from it!”

¹² Balaam replied, “Didn’t I tell your messengers ¹³ that even if you gave me a palace filled with silver and gold, I could not go beyond the words of Jehovah, and could not say a word of my own? I said that I would say only what Jehovah says! ¹⁴ Yes, I shall return now to my own people. But first, let me tell you what the Israelites are going to do to your people!”

^15-19 So he spoke this prophecy to him:

²⁰ Then Balaam looked over at the homes of the people of Amalek and prophesied:

^21-22 Then he looked over at the Kenites:

^23-24 He concluded his prophecies by saying:

²⁵ So Balaam and Balak returned to their homes.^[d]

25 While Israel was camped at Acacia, some of the young men began going to wild parties with the local Moabite girls. ² These girls also invited them to attend the sacrifices to their gods, and soon the men were not only attending the feasts, but also bowing down and worshiping the idols. ³ Before long all Israel was joining freely in the worship of Baal, the god of Moab; and the anger of the Lord was hot against his people.

⁴ He issued the following command to Moses:

“Execute all the tribal leaders of Israel. Hang them up before the Lord in broad daylight, so that his fierce anger will turn away from the people.”

⁵ So Moses ordered the judges to execute all who had worshiped Baal.

⁶ But one of the Israeli men insolently brought a Midianite girl into the camp, right before the eyes of Moses and all the people, as they were weeping at the door of the Tabernacle. ⁷ When Phinehas (son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest) saw this, he jumped up, grabbed a spear, ⁸ and rushed after the man into his tent, where he had taken the girl. He thrust the spear all the way through the man’s body and into her stomach. So the plague was stopped, ⁹ but only after 24,000 people had already died.

^10-11 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Phinehas (son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest) has turned away my anger for he was angry with my anger, and would not tolerate the worship of any God but me. So I have stopped destroying all Israel as I had intended. ^12-13 Now because of what he has done—because of his zeal for his God, and because he has made atonement for the people of Israel by what he did—I promise that he and his descendants shall be priests forever.”

¹⁴ The name of the man who was killed with the Midianite girl was Zimri, son of Salu, a leader of the tribe of Simeon. ¹⁵ The girl’s name was Cozbi, daughter of Zur, a Midianite prince.

^16-17 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Destroy the Midianites, ¹⁸ for they are destroying you with their wiles. They are causing you to worship Baal, and they are leading you astray, as you have just seen by the death of Cozbi.”