Beginning

23 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here shivah mizbechot, and prepare for me here shivah bulls and shivah rams.

² And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on each mizbe’ach a bull and a ram.

³ And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy olah, and I will go; perhaps Hashem will come to meet me; and whatsoever He showeth me I will tell thee. And he went to a barren height.

⁴ And Elohim met Balaam, and he said unto Him, I have prepared shivah hamizbechot, and I have offered upon each mizbe’ach a bull and a ram.

⁵ And Hashem put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.

⁶ And he returned unto him, and, hinei, he stood by his olah, he, and all the sarim of Moav.

⁷ And he took up his mashal, and said, Balak Melech Moav hath brought me from Aram (Syria), out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse for me Ya’akov, and come, denounce Yisroel.

⁸ How shall I curse, whom El hath not cursed? Or how shall I denounce, whom Hashem hath not denounced?

⁹ For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the heights I behold him; see, the people shall live apart, and shall not be reckoned among the Goyim.

¹⁰ Who can count the dust of Ya’akov, and the number of the fourth part of Yisroel? Let my nefesh die the death of the yesharim (righteous ones), and let my latter end be like his!

¹¹ And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I brought thee to curse mine enemies, and, hinei, thou hast altogether put a brocha on them.

¹² And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which Hashem hath put in my mouth?

¹³ And Balak said unto him, Come with me unto another place, from where thou mayest see them; thou shalt see part but not all of them, and curse them for me from there.

¹⁴ And he brought him into the sadeh of Tzophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built shivah mizbechot, and offered a bull and a ram on each mizbe’ach.

¹⁵ And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy olah, while I meet Hashem over there.

¹⁶ And Hashem met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus.

¹⁷ And when he came to him, hinei, he stood by his olah, and the sarim of Moav with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath Hashem spoken?

¹⁸ And he took up his mashal, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; pay heed unto me, thou son of Tzippor.

¹⁹ El is not an ish, that He should lie; neither a ben adam, that He should change His mind; hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not carry it out?

²⁰ Hinei, I have received commandment to make brocha; and He hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.

²¹ He hath not beheld avon in Ya’akov, neither hath He seen amal (trouble) in Yisroel. Hashem Elohav is with him, and the [jubilant] shout of a melech is about him.

²² El brought them out of Mitzrayim; He is for them like the strength of a wild ox.

²³ Surely there is no nachash (augury) in Ya’akov; neither is there any kesem (divination) in Yisroel; at the time it is spoken to Ya’akov and to Yisroel what El doeth!

²⁴ See, the people shall rise up as a lioness, and lift up himself as an ari; he shall not lie down until he devours the prey, and drinks the dahm of the slain.

²⁵ And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor at all make a brocha on them.

²⁶ But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Did I not tell thee, saying, All that Hashem speaketh, that I must do?

²⁷ And Balak said unto Balaam, Come now, I will bring thee unto another place; perhaps it will please HaElohim that thou mayest curse them for me from there.

²⁸ And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that overlooks Yeshimon.

²⁹ And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here shivah mizbechot, and prepare here shivah bulls and shivah rams for me.

³⁰ And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each mizbe’ach.

24 And when Balaam saw that it was tov in the eyes of Hashem to bless Yisroel, he went not, as at other times, to use nechashim (sorceries, divination, looking for omens) but he set his face toward hamidbar.

² And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Yisroel encamped according to their Shevatim; and the Ruach Elohim came upon him.

³ And he took up his mashal, and said, Balaam ben Beor hath said, the man whose eyes are open hath said,

⁴ He hath said which heard the words of El, which saw the machazeh Shaddai (vision of Shaddai), which falling prostrate, but having his eyes open:

⁵ Mah tovu ohalecha (How goodly, beautiful, are thy tents), O Ya’akov, and mishkenotecha (thy dwellings, tabernacles), O Yisroel!

⁶ As the valleys are they [the tents of Yisroel] spread forth, as ganot (gardens) by the riverside, like aloes which Hashem hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the mayim.

⁷ He shall pour the [rainfall] mayim out of his buckets, and his zera shall have mayim rabbim, and his Melech shall be more exalted than Agag, and Malchuso (His Kingdom) shall be upraised.

⁸ El brought him forth out of Mitzrayim. He hath the strength of a wild bull. He shall devour the Goyim his enemies and break their atzmot, and pierce them through with his khitzim.

⁹ He crouched, he lay down as an ari, and as the lioness; who shall stir him up? Mevarakhecha is he that makes a barucha on thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.

¹⁰ And af Balak (anger of Balak) was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said unto Balaam, I summoned thee to curse mine enemies, and, hinei, thou hast altogether blessed them these shalosh p’amim.

¹¹ Therefore now flee thou to thy mekom; I thought to kibed (honor, reward) thee honorably; but, hinei, Hashem hath kept thee back from kavod (honor, reward).

¹² And Balaam said unto Balak, Spoke I not also to thy malachim which thou didst send unto me, saying,

¹³ If Balak would give me his bais full of kesef and zahav, I cannot go beyond the commandment of Hashem, to do either tovah or ra’ah of mine own lev; but what Hashem saith, that will I say!

¹⁴ And now, hinei, I go back unto my people; come therefore, and I will warn thee what HaAm HaZeh shall do to thy people in the Acharit HaYamim.

¹⁵ And he took up his mashal, and said, Balaam ben Beor hath said, the man whose eyes are open hath said,

¹⁶ He hath said, which heard the words of El, and knew the Da’as Elyon, which saw the Machazeh Shaddai, falling prostrate, but having his eyes open:

¹⁷ I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not karov (near); there shall come a Kokhav (Star, i.e. Moshiach, see Targums) out of Ya’akov, and a Shevet (Sceptre) shall rise out of Yisroel, and shall strike through the temples (i.e., sides of the head) of Moav, and destroy all the Bnei Shet.

¹⁸ And Edom shall be a possession; Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; but Yisroel shall do valiantly.

¹⁹ Out of Ya’akov shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the Ir.

²⁰ And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his mashal, and said, Amalek was the reshit of the Goyim; but his acharit (latter end) shall be that unto destruction.

²¹ And he looked on the Keini (Kenites), and took up his mashal, and said, Strong is thy moshav (dwelling place), and thou puttest thy ken (nest) in a rock.

²² Nevertheless Kayin shall be for burning, while Asshur (Assyria) shall carry thee away captive.

²³ And he took up his mashal, and said, Oy, who shall live when El doeth this?

²⁴ And ships shall come from the coast of Kittim (Cyprus), and shall afflict Asshur (Assyria), and shall afflict 'Ever (i.e., Region beyond the River [Euphrates]), and he also shall be unto destruction.

²⁵ And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his makom (place, home); and Balak also went his way.

25 And Yisroel was staying in Sheetim, and HaAm began to commit whoredom with the Banot Moav.

² And they invited the people unto the zevakhim of their g-ds; and the people did eat and bowed down to their g-ds.

³ And Yisroel joined himself unto Baal-Peor [see Num.23:28]; and the Af Hashem was kindled against Yisroel.

⁴ And Hashem said unto Moshe, Take Kol Rashei HaAm, and kill them, hanging them [on a tree, stake], before Hashem against the shemesh, that the fierce Af Hashem (Anger of Hashem) may be turned away from Yisroel.

⁵ And Moshe said unto the shofetim of Yisroel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-Peor.

⁶ And, hinei, one of the Bnei Yisroel came and brought unto his brethren a woman from Midyan before the eyes of Moshe, and before the eyes of Kol Adat Bnei Yisroel, who were weeping before the entrance of the Ohel Mo’ed.

⁷ And when Pinchas ben Eleazar ben Aharon HaKohen saw it, he rose up from among HaEdah, and took a romach (spear) in his yad;

⁸ And he went after the ish Yisroel into the inner tent, and thrust through both of them, the ish Yisroel, and the isha through her belly. So the maggefah (plague) was stopped from the Bnei Yisroel.

⁹ And those that were the mesim (dead ones) in the maggefah (plague) were twenty and four thousand.

[PINCHAS]

¹⁰ And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,

¹¹ Pinchas ben Eleazar ben Aharon HaKohen, hath turned My wrath away from the Bnei Yisroel, when he had kanous (zealousness) with My kanous among them, that I consumed not the Bnei Yisroel in My kina (jealousy, zeal, vengeance).

¹² Therefore say, Hineni, I am making unto him My Brit (Covenant) of Shalom;

¹³ And he shall have it, and his zera after him, even the Brit Kehunat Olam; because he had kanous for Elohav, and made kapporah for the Bnei Yisroel.

¹⁴ Now the shem of the ish Yisroel that was slain, even that was slain with the woman from Midyan, was Zimri ben Salu, a leader of one of the clans from the tribe of Shimon.

¹⁵ And the shem of the isha from Midyan that was slain was Kozbi bat Tzur; he [Tzur] was rosh over the people in one of the clans of Midyan.

¹⁶ And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,

¹⁷ Be hostile toward the Midyanim, and strike them;

¹⁸ For they are hostile toward you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Kozbi bat Nasi Midyan, their achot, which was slain in the yom of the maggefah that resulted from Peor.