Numbers 24:10-25:9

New International Version

¹⁰Then Balak’s anger burned^(A) against Balaam. He struck his hands together^(B) and said to him, “I summoned you to curse my enemies,^(C) but you have blessed them^(D) these three times.^(E) ¹¹Now leave at once and go home!^(F) I said I would reward you handsomely,^(G) but the Lord has kept you from being rewarded.”

¹²Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell the messengers you sent me,^(H) ¹³‘Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord^(I)—and I must say only what the Lord says’?^(J) ¹⁴Now I am going back to my people, but come, let me warn you of what this people will do to your people in days to come.”^(K)

Balaam’s Fourth Message

¹⁵Then he spoke his message:

“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor,
    the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,
¹⁶the prophecy of one who hears the words^(L) of God,
    who has knowledge from the Most High,^(M)
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
    who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:

¹⁷“I see him, but not now;
    I behold him, but not near.^(N)
A star will come out of Jacob;^(O)
    a scepter will rise out of Israel.^(P)
He will crush the foreheads of Moab,^(Q)
    the skulls^[a]^(R) of^[b] all the people of Sheth.^[c]
¹⁸Edom^(S) will be conquered;
    Seir,^(T) his enemy, will be conquered,^(U)
    but Israel^(V) will grow strong.
¹⁹A ruler will come out of Jacob^(W)
    and destroy the survivors of the city.”

Balaam’s Fifth Message

²⁰Then Balaam saw Amalek^(X) and spoke his message:

“Amalek was first among the nations,
but their end will be utter destruction.”^(Y)

Balaam’s Sixth Message

²¹Then he saw the Kenites^(Z) and spoke his message:

“Your dwelling place is secure,^(AA)
your nest is set in a rock;
²²yet you Kenites will be destroyed
when Ashur^(AB) takes you captive.”

Balaam’s Seventh Message

²³Then he spoke his message:

“Alas! Who can live when God does this?^[d]
²⁴ Ships will come from the shores of Cyprus;^(AC)
they will subdue Ashur^(AD) and Eber,^(AE)
but they too will come to ruin.^(AF)”

²⁵Then Balaam^(AG) got up and returned home, and Balak went his own way.

Moab Seduces Israel

25 While Israel was staying in Shittim,^(AH) the men began to indulge in sexual immorality^(AI) with Moabite^(AJ) women,^(AK) ²who invited them to the sacrifices^(AL) to their gods.^(AM) The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. ³So Israel yoked themselves to^(AN) the Baal of Peor.^(AO) And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

⁴The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders^(AP) of these people, kill them and expose^(AQ) them in broad daylight before the Lord,^(AR) so that the Lord’s fierce anger^(AS) may turn away from Israel.”

⁵So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death^(AT) those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”^(AU)

⁶Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite^(AV) woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping^(AW) at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁷When Phinehas^(AX) son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear^(AY) in his hand ⁸and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped;^(AZ) ⁹but those who died in the plague^(BA) numbered 24,000.^(BB)

Footnotes

Numbers 24:17 Samaritan Pentateuch (see also Jer. 48:45); the meaning of the word in the Masoretic Text is uncertain.
Numbers 24:17 Or possibly Moab, / batter
Numbers 24:17 Or all the noisy boasters
Numbers 24:23 Masoretic Text; with a different word division of the Hebrew The people from the islands will gather from the north.