Numbers 24-25

New King James Version

Balaam Foretells the Happiness of Israel

24 Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at ^(A)other times, to seek to use ^[a]sorcery, but he set his face toward the wilderness. ²And Balaam raised his eyes, and saw Israel ^(B)encamped according to their tribes; and ^(C)the Spirit of God came upon him.

³^(D)Then he took up his oracle and said:

“The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor,
The utterance of the man whose eyes are opened,
⁴The utterance of him who hears the words of God,
Who sees the vision of the Almighty,
Who ^(E)falls down, with eyes wide open:

⁵“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob!
Your dwellings, O Israel!
⁶Like valleys that stretch out,
Like gardens by the riverside,
^(F)Like aloes ^(G)planted by the Lord,
Like cedars beside the waters.
⁷He shall pour water from his buckets,
And his seed shall be ^(H)in many waters.

“His king shall be higher than ^(I)Agag,
And his ^(J)kingdom shall be exalted.

⁸“God^(K) brings him out of Egypt;
He has strength like a wild ox;
He shall ^(L)consume the nations, his enemies;
He shall ^(M)break their bones
And ^(N)pierce them with his arrows.
⁹‘He^(O) bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?’

^(P)“Blessed is he who blesses you,
And cursed is he who curses you.”

¹⁰Then Balak’s anger was aroused against Balaam, and he ^(Q)struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, ^(R)“I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have bountifully blessed them these three times! ¹¹Now therefore, flee to your place. ^(S)I said I would greatly honor you, but in fact, the Lord has kept you back from honor.”

¹²So Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, ¹³‘If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord, to do good or bad of my own will. What the Lord says, that I must speak’? ¹⁴And now, indeed, I am going to my people. Come, ^(T)I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the ^(U)latter days.”

Balaam’s Fourth Prophecy

¹⁵So he took up his oracle and said:

“The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor,
And the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened;
¹⁶The utterance of him who hears the words of God,
And has the knowledge of the Most High,
Who sees the vision of the Almighty,
Who falls down, with eyes wide open:

¹⁷“I^(V) see Him, but not now;
I behold Him, but not near;
^(W)A Star shall come out of Jacob;
^(X)A Scepter shall rise out of Israel,
And ^[b]batter the brow of Moab,
And destroy all the sons of ^[c]tumult.

¹⁸“And ^(Y)Edom shall be a possession;
Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession,
While Israel does ^[d]valiantly.
¹⁹^(Z)Out of Jacob One ^[e]shall have dominion,
And destroy the remains of the city.”

²⁰Then he looked on Amalek, and he took up his oracle and said:

“Amalek was first among the nations,
But shall be last until he perishes.”

²¹Then he looked on the Kenites, and he took up his oracle and said:

“Firm is your dwelling place,
And your nest is set in the rock;
²²Nevertheless Kain shall be burned.
How long until Asshur carries you away captive?”

²³Then he took up his oracle and said:

“Alas! Who shall live when God does this?
²⁴But ships shall come from the coasts of ^(AA)Cyprus,^[f]
And they shall afflict Asshur and afflict ^(AB)Eber,
And so shall ^[g]Amalek, until he perishes.”

²⁵So Balaam rose and departed and ^(AC)returned to his place; Balak also went his way.

Israel’s Harlotry in Moab

25 Now Israel remained in ^(AD)Acacia Grove,^[h] and the ^(AE)people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. ²^(AF)They invited the people to ^(AG)the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and ^(AH)bowed down to their gods. ³So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and ^(AI)the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.

⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(AJ)“Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord, out in the sun, ^(AK)that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”

⁵So Moses said to ^(AL)the judges of Israel, ^(AM)“Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor.”

⁶And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, ^(AN)who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁷Now ^(AO)when Phinehas ^(AP)the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; ⁸and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So ^(AQ)the plague was ^(AR)stopped among the children of Israel. ⁹And ^(AS)those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

¹⁰Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹¹^(AT)“Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in ^(AU)My zeal. ¹²Therefore say, ^(AV)‘Behold, I give to him My ^(AW)covenant of peace; ¹³and it shall be to him and ^(AX)his descendants after him a covenant of ^(AY)an everlasting priesthood, because he was ^(AZ)zealous for his God, and ^(BA)made ^[i]atonement for the children of Israel.’ ”

¹⁴Now the name of the Israelite who was killed, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s house among the Simeonites. ¹⁵And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of ^(BB)Zur; he was head of the people of a father’s house in Midian.

¹⁶Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁷^(BC)“Harass the Midianites, and ^[j]attack them; ¹⁸for they harassed you with their ^(BD)schemes^[k] by which they seduced you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister, who was killed in the day of the plague because of Peor.”