Numbers 23-25
New American Standard Bible
The Prophecies of Balaam
23 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.” 2 Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a bare hill.
4 Now God met with Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have set up the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.” 5 Then the Lord (A)put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and this is what you shall speak.” 6 So he returned to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, he and all the leaders of Moab. 7 And he took up his discourse and said,
“From (B)Aram Balak has brought me,
Moab’s king from the mountains of the East, saying,
‘(C)Come, declare Jacob cursed for me,
And come, curse Israel!’
8 (D)How am I to put a curse on him upon whom God has not put a curse?
And how am I to curse him whom the Lord has not cursed?
9 For I see him from the top of the rocks,
And I look at him from the hills;
(E)Behold, a people that lives in isolation,
And does not consider itself to be among the nations.
10 (F)Who has counted the dust of Jacob,
Or the number of the fourth part of Israel?
(G)May [a]I die the death of the upright,
(H)And may my end be like his!”
11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? (I)I took you to put a curse on my enemies, but behold, you have actually blessed them!” 12 He replied, “Must I not be careful to speak (J)what the Lord puts in my mouth?”
13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and put a curse on them for me from there.” 14 So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 15 Then he said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet the Lord over there.” 16 Then the Lord met Balaam and (K)put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and this is what you shall speak.” 17 So he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?” 18 Then he took up his discourse and said,
“Arise, Balak, and hear;
Listen to me, son of Zippor!
19 (L)God is not a man, that He would lie,
Nor a son of man, that He would change His mind;
(M)Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
20 Behold, I have received a command to bless;
(N)When He has blessed, (O)I cannot revoke it.
21 (P)He has not looked at misfortune in Jacob;
(Q)Nor has He seen trouble in Israel;
(R)The Lord his God is with him,
(S)And the joyful shout of a king is among them.
22 (T)God brings them out of Egypt,
He is for them like the (U)horns of the wild ox.
23 (V)For there is no magic curse against Jacob,
Nor is there any divination against Israel;
At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob
And to Israel, what God has done!
24 (W)Behold, a people rises like a lioness,
And like a lion it raises itself;
It will not lie down until it devours the prey,
And drinks the blood of those slain.”
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all!” 26 But Balaam replied to Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘[b](X)Whatever the Lord speaks, I must do’?”
27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be [c]agreeable with God that you curse them for me from there.” 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the [d]desert. 29 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.” 30 Balak did just as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.
The Prophecy from Peor
24 When Balaam saw that it [e]pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times to [f]seek (Y)omens, rather he turned his [g]attention toward the (Z)wilderness. 2 And Balaam raised his eyes and saw Israel [h]camping tribe by tribe; and (AA)the Spirit of God came upon him. 3 Then he took up his discourse and said,
“(AB)The declaration of Balaam the son of Beor,
And the declaration of the man whose eye is opened;
4 The declaration of him who (AC)hears the [i]words of God,
Who sees the (AD)vision of [j]the Almighty,
Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered,
5 How pleasant are your tents, Jacob,
Your dwelling places, Israel!
6 Like [k]valleys that stretch out,
Like gardens beside a river,
Like (AE)aloes planted by the Lord,
Like (AF)cedars beside the waters.
7 Water will flow from his buckets,
And his seed will be by many waters,
And his king shall be higher than (AG)Agag,
(AH)And his kingdom shall be exalted.
8 (AI)God brings him out of Egypt,
He is for him like the horns of the wild ox.
(AJ)He will devour the nations who are his adversaries,
And will crush their bones,
And smash them with his (AK)arrows.
9 (AL)He [l]crouches, he lies down like a lion,
And like a lioness, who [m]dares to rouse him?
(AM)Blessed is everyone who blesses you,
And cursed is everyone who curses you.”
10 Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his [n]hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have persisted in blessing them these three times! 11 So [o]flee to your place now. I said I would honor you greatly, but behold, the Lord has held you back from honor.” 12 And Balaam said to Balak, “(AN)Did I not in fact tell your messengers whom you had sent to me, saying, 13 ‘If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything contrary to the [p]command of the Lord, either good or bad, (AO)of my own [q]accord. (AP)What the Lord speaks, I will [r]speak’? 14 So now, behold, (AQ)I am going to my people; come, and I will advise you of what this people will do to your people in the [s]days to come.”
15 Then he took up his discourse and said,
“(AR)The declaration of Balaam the son of Beor,
And the declaration of the man whose eye is opened,
16 The declaration of him who hears the [t]words of God,
And knows the knowledge of the [u]Most High,
Who sees the vision of [v]the Almighty,
Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered:
17 I see him, but not now;
I look at him, but not near;
A star shall appear from Jacob,
(AS)A scepter shall rise from Israel,
(AT)And shall smash the [w]forehead of Moab,
And overcome all the sons of Sheth.
18 (AU)And Edom shall be a possession,
(AV)Seir, its enemies, also will be a possession,
While Israel performs valiantly.
19 One from Jacob shall rule,
And will eliminate the survivors from the city.”
20 And he looked at Amalek and took up his discourse and said,
21 And he looked at the (AX)Kenite, and took up his discourse and said,
“Your dwelling place is enduring,
And your nest is set in the cliff.
22 Nevertheless Kain will suffer devastation;
How long will (AY)Asshur [y]keep you captive?”
23 Then he took up his discourse and said,
“Oh, who can live unless God has ordained it?
24 But ships shall come from the coast of (AZ)Kittim,
And they shall oppress Asshur and oppress (BA)Eber;
(BB)So they also will come to destruction.”
25 Then Balaam arose, and he departed and returned to (BC)his place, and Balak also went on his way.
The Sin of Peor
25 While Israel remained at (BD)Shittim, the people began (BE)to commit infidelity with the daughters of Moab. 2 For (BF)they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So (BG)Israel [z]became followers of [aa]Baal of Peor, and the Lord was angry with Israel. 4 And the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and [ab]execute them [ac]in broad daylight before the Lord, (BH)so that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.” 5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you (BI)kill his men who have [ad]become followers of [ae]Baal of Peor.”
6 Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a (BJ)Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, (BK)while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 7 (BL)When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand, 8 and he went after the man of Israel into the inner room of the tent and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman, through the abdomen. (BM)So the plague on the sons of Israel was brought to a halt. 9 (BN)But those who died from the plague were twenty-four thousand in number.
The Zeal of Phinehas
10 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 11 “(BO)Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has averted My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was [af]jealous with My [ag]jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel (BP)in My [ah]jealousy. 12 Therefore say, ‘(BQ)Behold, I am giving him My (BR)covenant of peace; 13 and it shall be for him and for his [ai]descendants after him, a covenant of a (BS)permanent priesthood, because he was [aj]jealous for his God and (BT)made atonement for the sons of Israel.’”
14 Now the name of the [ak]dead man of Israel who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s household among the Simeonites. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was (BU)Cozbi the daughter of (BV)Zur, [al]who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian.
16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “(BW)Be hostile to the Midianites and attack them; 18 for they have been hostile to you with their tricks, with which they have deceived you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was killed on the day of the plague because of Peor.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 23:10 Lit my soul
- Numbers 23:26 Lit saying, Whatever
- Numbers 23:27 Lit right in the sight of God
- Numbers 23:28 Or Jeshimon
- Numbers 24:1 Lit was good in the eyes of
- Numbers 24:1 Lit encounter
- Numbers 24:1 Lit face
- Numbers 24:2 Lit dwelling
- Numbers 24:4 Lit sayings
- Numbers 24:4 Heb Shaddai
- Numbers 24:6 Or possibly palm trees
- Numbers 24:9 Lit bows down
- Numbers 24:9 Lit will
- Numbers 24:10 Lit palms
- Numbers 24:11 Lit flee for yourself
- Numbers 24:13 Lit mouth
- Numbers 24:13 Lit heart
- Numbers 24:13 Lit speak it
- Numbers 24:14 Lit end of the days
- Numbers 24:16 Lit sayings
- Numbers 24:16 Heb Elyon
- Numbers 24:16 Heb Shaddai
- Numbers 24:17 Lit corners
- Numbers 24:20 Lit to destruction
- Numbers 24:22 Lit take
- Numbers 25:3 Lit bound themselves to
- Numbers 25:3 Or Baal-peor
- Numbers 25:4 Lit display them (dead) with broken limbs
- Numbers 25:4 Lit in front of the sun
- Numbers 25:5 Lit bound themselves to
- Numbers 25:5 Or Baal-peor
- Numbers 25:11 Or possibly zealous; i.e., impassioned
- Numbers 25:11 Or possibly anger
- Numbers 25:11 Or possibly anger
- Numbers 25:13 Lit seed
- Numbers 25:13 Or possibly zealous; i.e., impassioned
- Numbers 25:14 Lit killed
- Numbers 25:15 Lit he
Numbers 23-25
New Living Translation
Balaam Blesses Israel
23 Then Balaam said to King Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven young bulls and seven rams for me to sacrifice.” 2 Balak followed his instructions, and the two of them sacrificed a young bull and a ram on each altar.
3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offerings, and I will go to see if the Lord will respond to me. Then I will tell you whatever he reveals to me.” So Balaam went alone to the top of a bare hill, 4 and God met him there. Balaam said to him, “I have prepared seven altars and have sacrificed a young bull and a ram on each altar.”
5 The Lord gave Balaam a message for King Balak. Then he said, “Go back to Balak and give him my message.”
6 So Balaam returned and found the king standing beside his burnt offerings with all the officials of Moab. 7 This was the message Balaam delivered:
“Balak summoned me to come from Aram;
the king of Moab brought me from the eastern hills.
‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me!
Come and announce Israel’s doom.’
8 But how can I curse those
whom God has not cursed?
How can I condemn those
whom the Lord has not condemned?
9 I see them from the cliff tops;
I watch them from the hills.
I see a people who live by themselves,
set apart from other nations.
10 Who can count Jacob’s descendants, as numerous as dust?
Who can count even a fourth of Israel’s people?
Let me die like the righteous;
let my life end like theirs.”
11 Then King Balak demanded of Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies. Instead, you have blessed them!”
12 But Balaam replied, “I will speak only the message that the Lord puts in my mouth.”
Balaam’s Second Message
13 Then King Balak told him, “Come with me to another place. There you will see another part of the nation of Israel, but not all of them. Curse at least that many!” 14 So Balak took Balaam to the plateau of Zophim on Pisgah Peak. He built seven altars there and offered a young bull and a ram on each altar.
15 Then Balaam said to the king, “Stand here by your burnt offerings while I go over there to meet the Lord.”
16 And the Lord met Balaam and gave him a message. Then he said, “Go back to Balak and give him my message.”
17 So Balaam returned and found the king standing beside his burnt offerings with all the officials of Moab. “What did the Lord say?” Balak asked eagerly.
18 This was the message Balaam delivered:
“Rise up, Balak, and listen!
Hear me, son of Zippor.
19 God is not a man, so he does not lie.
He is not human, so he does not change his mind.
Has he ever spoken and failed to act?
Has he ever promised and not carried it through?
20 Listen, I received a command to bless;
God has blessed, and I cannot reverse it!
21 No misfortune is in his plan for Jacob;
no trouble is in store for Israel.
For the Lord their God is with them;
he has been proclaimed their king.
22 God brought them out of Egypt;
for them he is as strong as a wild ox.
23 No curse can touch Jacob;
no magic has any power against Israel.
For now it will be said of Jacob,
‘What wonders God has done for Israel!’
24 These people rise up like a lioness,
like a majestic lion rousing itself.
They refuse to rest
until they have feasted on prey,
drinking the blood of the slaughtered!”
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Fine, but if you won’t curse them, at least don’t bless them!”
26 But Balaam replied to Balak, “Didn’t I tell you that I can do only what the Lord tells me?”
Balaam’s Third Message
27 Then King Balak said to Balaam, “Come, I will take you to one more place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them from there.”
28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Mount Peor, overlooking the wasteland.[a] 29 Balaam again told Balak, “Build me seven altars, and prepare seven young bulls and seven rams for me to sacrifice.” 30 So Balak did as Balaam ordered and offered a young bull and a ram on each altar.
24 By now Balaam realized that the Lord was determined to bless Israel, so he did not resort to divination as before. Instead, he turned and looked out toward the wilderness, 2 where he saw the people of Israel camped, tribe by tribe. Then the Spirit of God came upon him, 3 and this is the message he delivered:
“This is the message of Balaam son of Beor,
the message of the man whose eyes see clearly,
4 the message of one who hears the words of God,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
who bows down with eyes wide open:
5 How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob;
how lovely are your homes, O Israel!
6 They spread before me like palm groves,[b]
like gardens by the riverside.
They are like tall trees planted by the Lord,
like cedars beside the waters.
7 Water will flow from their buckets;
their offspring have all they need.
Their king will be greater than Agag;
their kingdom will be exalted.
8 God brought them out of Egypt;
for them he is as strong as a wild ox.
He devours all the nations that oppose him,
breaking their bones in pieces,
shooting them with arrows.
9 Like a lion, Israel crouches and lies down;
like a lioness, who dares to arouse her?
Blessed is everyone who blesses you, O Israel,
and cursed is everyone who curses you.”
10 King Balak flew into a rage against Balaam. He angrily clapped his hands and shouted, “I called you to curse my enemies! Instead, you have blessed them three times. 11 Now get out of here! Go back home! I promised to reward you richly, but the Lord has kept you from your reward.”
12 Balaam told Balak, “Don’t you remember what I told your messengers? I said, 13 ‘Even if Balak were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I would be powerless to do anything against the will of the Lord.’ I told you that I could say only what the Lord says! 14 Now I am returning to my own people. But first let me tell you what the Israelites will do to your people in the future.”
Balaam’s Final Messages
15 This is the message Balaam delivered:
“This is the message of Balaam son of Beor,
the message of the man whose eyes see clearly,
16 the message of one who hears the words of God,
who has knowledge from the Most High,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
who bows down with eyes wide open:
17 I see him, but not here and now.
I perceive him, but far in the distant future.
A star will rise from Jacob;
a scepter will emerge from Israel.
It will crush the heads of Moab’s people,
cracking the skulls[c] of the people of Sheth.
18 Edom will be taken over,
and Seir, its enemy, will be conquered,
while Israel marches on in triumph.
19 A ruler will rise in Jacob
who will destroy the survivors of Ir.”
20 Then Balaam looked over toward the people of Amalek and delivered this message:
“Amalek was the greatest of nations,
but its destiny is destruction!”
21 Then he looked over toward the Kenites and delivered this message:
“Your home is secure;
your nest is set in the rocks.
22 But the Kenites will be destroyed
when Assyria[d] takes you captive.”
23 Balaam concluded his messages by saying:
“Alas, who can survive
unless God has willed it?
24 Ships will come from the coasts of Cyprus[e];
they will oppress Assyria and afflict Eber,
but they, too, will be utterly destroyed.”
25 Then Balaam left and returned home, and Balak also went on his way.
Moab Seduces Israel
25 While the Israelites were camped at Acacia Grove,[f] some of the men defiled themselves by having[g] sexual relations with local Moabite women. 2 These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, so the Israelites feasted with them and worshiped the gods of Moab. 3 In this way, Israel joined in the worship of Baal of Peor, causing the Lord’s anger to blaze against his people.
4 The Lord issued the following command to Moses: “Seize all the ringleaders and execute them before the Lord in broad daylight, so his fierce anger will turn away from the people of Israel.”
5 So Moses ordered Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death the men under your authority who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor.”
6 Just then one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman into his tent, right before the eyes of Moses and all the people, as everyone was weeping at the entrance of the Tabernacle.[h] 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest saw this, he jumped up and left the assembly. He took a spear 8 and rushed after the man into his tent. Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man’s body and into the woman’s stomach. So the plague against the Israelites was stopped, 9 but not before 24,000 people had died.
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest has turned my anger away from the Israelites by being as zealous among them as I was. So I stopped destroying all Israel as I had intended to do in my zealous anger. 12 Now tell him that I am making my special covenant of peace with him. 13 In this covenant, I give him and his descendants a permanent right to the priesthood, for in his zeal for me, his God, he purified the people of Israel, making them right with me.[i]”
14 The Israelite man killed with the Midianite woman was named Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a family from the tribe of Simeon. 15 The woman’s name was Cozbi; she was the daughter of Zur, the leader of a Midianite clan.
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, 17 “Attack the Midianites and destroy them, 18 because they assaulted you with deceit and tricked you into worshiping Baal of Peor, and because of Cozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, who was killed at the time of the plague because of what happened at Peor.”
Footnotes
- 23:28 Or overlooking Jeshimon.
- 24:6 Or like a majestic valley.
- 24:17 As in Samaritan Pentateuch; the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain.
- 24:22 Hebrew Asshur; also in 24:24.
- 24:24 Hebrew Kittim.
- 25:1a Hebrew Shittim.
- 25:1b As in Greek version; Hebrew reads some of the men began having.
- 25:6 Hebrew the Tent of Meeting.
- 25:13 Or he made atonement for the people of Israel.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
