Beginning
Balaam's first message from God
23 Balaam said to King Balak, ‘Build seven altars here for me. Prepare seven bulls and seven male sheep.’ 2 Balak did this. Balaam and Balak then offered a bull and a male sheep on each altar as a sacrifice.
3 Then Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stand next to your burnt offering. I will go to see if the Lord will come to meet me. If he shows something to me, I will tell you about it.’ Then Balaam went to the top of a hill where there were no trees.
4 Balaam said to the Lord, ‘I made seven altars. On each altar, I have offered a bull and a male sheep.’
5 God told Balaam the message that he should speak to Balak.
6 So Balaam returned to Balak. Balak was still standing by his burnt offering with all the Moabite officers.
7 Then Balaam started to speak his message from God. He said, ‘Balak, the king of Moab, has brought me from Syria. He brought me from the mountains in the east. He said “Come and curse Jacob's descendants for me. Say bad things against the Israelites!”
8 But I cannot curse these people, because God has not cursed them. I cannot speak against people that the Lord does not speak against.
9 When I stand on the rocks, I can see the Israelites. I can watch them from the hills. They are people who are separate from other nations.
10 Nobody can count Jacob's descendants. They are as many as the dust on the ground! It would be too difficult to count even a quarter of the Israelites. I would like to die in peace like those righteous people!’
11 Balak said to Balaam, ‘You have not done what I wanted you to do! I brought you here to curse my enemies. But you have blessed them!’
12 Balaam answered, ‘I can only speak the message that the Lord has told me.’
Balaam's second message from God
13 Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘Please come with me to another place where you can see the Israelites. You will not see all of them from there. Then curse those people for me.’
14 Balak took Balaam to the field of Zophim. It was at the top of Pisgah mountain. Balak built seven altars there. He offered a bull and a male sheep on each altar as sacrifices.
15 Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stay here beside your burnt offering. I will go to meet with the Lord.’
16 The Lord met Balaam and told him the message that he should speak to Balak. He told Balaam to go and tell it to Balak. 17 So Balaam went back to Balak. Balak and the Moabite officers were standing beside the burnt offerings. Balak asked Balaam, ‘What did the Lord say?’
18 Balaam spoke his message from God. He said, ‘Balak, son of Zippor, be ready! Listen carefully to me.
19 God is not human. He does not tell lies. He does not change his thoughts. If he promises to do something, it happens. 20 He told me that I must bless the Israelites. He has blessed them, so I must do it too.
21 I do not see that any trouble will come to the Israelites. The Lord their God is with them, to help them. They call him their king. 22 He brought them out of Egypt. He fights on their behalf, as strong as a wild bull.
23 Nobody can curse the Israelites. No magic has any power to hurt them. Now people will say about them, “See the great things that God has done for them!” 24 The Israelites are like a strong lion. It eats the animals that it has killed. It does not rest until it has eaten as much as it wants. It also drinks their blood.’
25 Balak said to Balaam, ‘You do not have to curse the Israelites, but please do not bless them!’ 26 Balaam replied, ‘I already told you, “I must do everything that the Lord tells me.” ’
27 Balak said to Balaam, ‘Let me take you to a different place. Perhaps God will let you curse the Israelites from that place.’ 28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor mountain. From there they could look over the desert. 29 Balaam said, ‘Build seven altars here. Prepare seven bulls and seven male sheep as sacrifices.’ 30 Balak did that. He offered a bull and a male sheep on each altar as sacrifices.
Balaam's third message from God
24 Balaam realized that the Lord wanted to bless the Israelites. So he did not use magic again to find out what the Lord wanted him to do. Instead, he looked towards the desert. 2 When he looked, he saw the Israelite people. They had put up their tents in groups for each tribe. Then the Spirit of God came on him. 3 As a result, Balaam said, ‘This is God's message that he has given to Balaam, the son of Beor. It is the words of a man who understands what God is saying. 4 It is the message of a man who hears God's words. I am a man who sees a vision that God Almighty has shown to him. I lie down on the ground, but my eyes are open! I see this:
5 The tents where the Israelites live are beautiful! 6 They are like green gardens in a valley beside a river. They are like tall trees that the Lord has put there. They are like cedar trees that grow beside water.
7 God will give them plenty of rain. Their descendants will always have plenty of water. Their king will be more powerful than Agag. Their kingdom will be great.
8 God brought them out of Egypt. God fights for them like a wild bull. He will destroy the nations who are their enemies. He will break their enemies' bones into pieces. He will shoot his arrows at them.
9 The Israelites are like a lion. When it is asleep, nobody is brave enough to wake it. God blesses those who bless you, Israel. And those who curse you are truly cursed.’
10 When Balaam said that, Balak became very angry with him. He hit his hands together and he said to Balaam, ‘I asked you to come here and to curse my enemies, the Israelites. But you have blessed them three times! 11 So go home now. I said that I would pay you very well. But the Lord has stopped me from giving you anything.’
12 Balaam said to Balak, ‘I already said this to the men that you sent to bring me. 13 I told them, “I can only speak the message that the Lord tells me. I cannot do good things or bad things just because I want to do them. Even if Balak gives his palace full of silver and gold to me, I cannot do anything different. I have to obey the Lord's command.” 14 So I will now return to my own people. But listen! Before I go, I will tell you what these Israelites will do to your people in the future.’
Balaam's fourth message from God
15 Then Balaam spoke this message from God. He said, ‘This is the message of Balaam, the son of Beor. It is the message of a man who sees clearly. 16 It is the message of a man who hears God's words. The Most High God has shown me things that only he knows. I am a man who sees a vision that God Almighty has shown to him. I lie down on the ground, but my eyes are open! I see this:
17 I see a king who will come from among the Israelites. He will not come now, but at a future time. He will appear as king, like a bright star. He will knock down the leaders of Moab. He will destroy the descendants of Sheth.[a] 18 He will win against his enemies in Edom and Seir. The Israelites will become stronger.
19 A descendant of Jacob will become their ruler. He will destroy all the people who are still alive in the city.’
Balaam's final messages from God
20 Then, in his vision, Balaam saw the Amalekites. He said, ‘Amalek was the most powerful of all the nations. God will destroy it now and for ever.’ 21 Then Balaam saw the Kenites. He spoke this message: ‘The place where you live seems strong and safe, high up among the rocks. 22 But Assyria's army will attack you. They will take you away as prisoners.’
23 Then Balaam spoke this message: ‘It is very bad for you! Nobody can live when God does these things! 24 Ships will come from the coast of Cyprus island. Their soldiers will attack Assyria and Eber. Then God will destroy them too.’
25 After he spoke those messages, Balaam returned to his home. King Balak also left that place.
The Israelites worship false gods
25 The Israelites were staying in Shittim. The men began to have sex with the women from Moab. 2 The women from Moab took Israelite men to watch them as they offered sacrifices to the gods of Moab. The Israelite men joined with the Moabite women to eat at their feasts. They also worshipped the gods of Moab. 3 The Israelites joined the Moabite women to worship their god, Baal of Peor. So the Lord became very angry with them.
4 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Take hold of all the leaders of these people. Hang them up during the day so that they die and people see them. Do what I tell you, so that I will no longer be angry against the Israelites.’
5 Moses told the officers of the Israelites, ‘Each of you, kill the men who have worshipped the god, Baal of Peor.’
6 Moses and all the people were at the door of the Tent of Meeting. They were weeping. While they were there, an Israelite man brought a Midianite woman into his tent. Moses and all the people could see them. 7 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest, saw what happened. So he stood up among all the people and he took a spear in his hand. 8 He went into the man's tent. He pushed the spear through the body of the man and the Midianite woman. When he did that, the bad disease that was killing the Israelites stopped. 9 But 24,000 people had already died as a result of the disease.
10 The Lord said to Moses, 11 ‘I am no longer angry with the Israelites. That is because of what Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest, did. He did not want the people to worship any god except me. Because of him, I did not kill all the Israelites. 12 So you must tell him that I have promised that my peace will be with him. 13 That promise will be for him and for his descendants after him. They will always be priests. That is because he did not want the people to worship any god except me. He has removed the sin of the Israelites so that I could forgive them.’
14 The name of the man that Phinehas killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri. He was the son of Salu. Salu was the leader of a clan from the tribe of Simeon. 15 The name of the Midianite woman was Cozbi. She was the daughter of Zur. Zur was a leader of a Midianite clan.
16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 ‘Attack the Midianites and destroy them. 18 They have deceived you and they have become your enemies. They took some of you to worship their god Peor. They used Cozbi to make you do a wrong thing, and she was the daughter of a Midianite leader. Phinehas killed her on the day when the bad disease killed many Israelites at Peor mountain.’
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