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,^[a] 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.

⁵⁷ By now Elizabeth’s waiting was over, for the time had come for the baby to be born—and it was a boy. ⁵⁸ The word spread quickly to her neighbors and relatives of how kind the Lord had been to her, and everyone rejoiced.

⁵⁹ When the baby was eight days old, all the relatives and friends came for the circumcision ceremony. They all assumed the baby’s name would be Zacharias, after his father.

⁶⁰ But Elizabeth said, “No! He must be named John!”

⁶¹ “What?” they exclaimed. “There is no one in all your family by that name.” ⁶² So they asked the baby’s father, talking to him by gestures.^[a]

⁶³ He motioned for a piece of paper and to everyone’s surprise wrote, “His name is John!” ⁶⁴ Instantly Zacharias could speak again, and he began praising God.

⁶⁵ Wonder fell upon the whole neighborhood, and the news of what had happened spread through the Judean hills. ⁶⁶ And everyone who heard about it thought long thoughts and asked, “I wonder what this child will turn out to be? For the hand of the Lord is surely upon him in some special way.”

⁶⁷ Then his father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy:

⁶⁸ “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has come to visit his people and has redeemed them. ⁶⁹ He is sending us a Mighty Savior from the royal line of his servant David, ⁷⁰ just as he promised through his holy prophets long ago— ⁷¹ someone to save us from our enemies, from all who hate us.

^72-73 “He has been merciful to our ancestors, yes, to Abraham himself, by remembering his sacred promise to him, ⁷⁴ and by granting us the privilege of serving God fearlessly, freed from our enemies, ⁷⁵ and by making us holy and acceptable, ready to stand in his presence forever.

⁷⁶ “And you, my little son, shall be called the prophet of the glorious God, for you will prepare the way for the Messiah. ⁷⁷ You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. ⁷⁸ All this will be because the mercy of our God is very tender, and heaven’s dawn is about to break upon us, ⁷⁹ to give light to those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow, and to guide us to the path of peace.”

⁸⁰ The little boy greatly loved God^[b] and when he grew up he lived out in the lonely wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel.

58 ^1-2 Justice? You high and mighty politicians don’t even know the meaning of the word! Fairness? Which of you has any left? Not one! All your dealings are crooked: you give “justice” in exchange for bribes.^{[a] 3} These men are born sinners, lying from their earliest words! ^4-5 They are poisonous as deadly snakes, cobras that close their ears to the most expert of charmers.

⁶ O God, break off their fangs. Tear out the teeth of these young lions, Lord. ⁷ Let them disappear like water into thirsty ground. Make their weapons useless in their hands.^{[b] 8} Let them be as snails that dissolve into slime and as those who die at birth, who never see the sun. ⁹ God will sweep away both old and young. He will destroy them more quickly than a cooking pot can feel the blazing fire of thorns beneath it.

¹⁰ The godly shall rejoice in the triumph of right;^[c] they shall walk the bloodstained fields of slaughtered, wicked men. ¹¹ Then at last everyone will know that good is rewarded, and that there is a God who judges justly here on earth.

¹² To quarrel with a neighbor is foolish; a man with good sense holds his tongue.

¹³ A gossip goes around spreading rumors, while a trustworthy man tries to quiet them.