Balaam’s Second Prophecy

¹³ Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only the outer part of them, and shall not see them all; curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴ So he brought him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, ^(A)and built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵ And he said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering while I ^[a]meet the Lord over there.”

¹⁶ Then the Lord met Balaam, and ^(B)put a word in his mouth, and said, “Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ¹⁷ So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”

¹⁸ Then he took up his oracle and said:

²⁵ Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!”

²⁶ So Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ^(N)‘All that the Lord speaks, that I must do’?”

Balaam’s Third Prophecy

²⁷ Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, 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 Peor, that ^(O)overlooks the ^[e]wasteland. ²⁹ Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ³⁰ And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.

Judgment on Persistent Unfaithfulness

¹² The word of the Lord came again to me, saying: ¹³ “Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its ^(A)supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. ^14 (B)Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves ^(C)by their righteousness,” says the Lord God.

¹⁵ “If I cause ^(D)wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ^[a]empty it, and make it so desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts, ¹⁶ even ^(E)though these three men were ^[b]in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters; only they would be delivered, and the land would be ^(F)desolate.

¹⁷ “Or if ^(G)I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land,’ and I ^(H)cut off man and beast from it, ¹⁸ even ^(I)though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but only they themselves would be delivered.

¹⁹ “Or if I send ^(J)a pestilence into that land and ^(K)pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast, ²⁰ even ^(L)though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.”

²¹ For thus says the Lord God: “How much more it shall be when ^(M)I send My four ^[c]severe judgments on Jerusalem—the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence—to cut off man and beast from it? ^22 (N)Yet behold, there shall be left in it a remnant who will be ^(O)brought out, both sons and daughters; surely they will come out to you, and ^(P)you will see their ways and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, all that I have brought upon it. ²³ And they will comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings; and you shall know that I have done nothing ^(Q)without cause that I have done in it,” says the Lord God.

Perilous Times and Perilous Men

3 But know this, that ^(A)in the last days ^[a]perilous times will come: ² For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ unloving, ^[b]unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ^4 (B)traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ^5 (C)having a form of godliness but ^(D)denying its power. And ^(E)from such people turn away! ⁶ For ^(F)of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, ⁷ always learning and never able ^(G)to come to the knowledge of the truth. ^8 (H)Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: ^(I)men of corrupt minds, ^(J)disapproved concerning the faith; ⁹ but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, ^(K)as theirs also was.

The Man of God and the Word of God

^10 (L)But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, ¹¹ persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me ^(M)at Antioch, ^(N)at Iconium, ^(O)at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And ^(P)out of them all the Lord delivered me. ¹² Yes, and ^(Q)all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. ^13 (R)But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. ¹⁴ But you must ^(S)continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, ¹⁵ and that from childhood you have known ^(T)the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

^16 (U)All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, ^(V)and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for ^[c]instruction in righteousness, ^17 (W)that the man of God may be complete, ^(X)thoroughly equipped for every good work.