21 Then the king of ‘Arad, a Kena‘ani who lived in the Negev, heard that Isra’el was approaching by way of Atarim, so he attacked Isra’el and took some of them captive. ² Isra’el made a vow to Adonai, “If you will hand this people over to me, I will completely destroy their cities.” ³ Adonai listened to what Isra’el said and handed over the Kena‘anim, so they completely destroyed them and their cities and named the place Hormah [complete destruction].

⁴ Then they traveled from Mount Hor on the road toward the Sea of Suf in order to go around the land of Edom; but the people’s tempers grew short because of the detour. ⁵ The people spoke against God and against Moshe: “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt? To die in the desert? There’s no real food, there’s no water, and we’re sick of this miserable stuff we’re eating!”

(LY: vi) ⁶ In response, Adonai sent poisonous snakes among the people; they bit the people, and many of Isra’el’s people died. ⁷ The people came to Moshe and said, “We sinned by speaking against Adonai and against you. Pray to Adonai that he rid us of these snakes.” Moshe prayed for the people, ⁸ and Adonai answered Moshe: “Make a poisonous snake and put it on a pole. When anyone who has been bitten sees it, he will live.” ⁹ Moshe made a bronze snake and put it on the pole; if a snake had bitten someone, then, when he looked toward the bronze snake, he stayed alive.

¹⁰ The people of Isra’el traveled on and camped at Ovot. ¹¹ From Ovot they traveled and camped at ‘Iyei-Ha‘avarim, in the desert fronting Mo’av on the east. ¹² From there they traveled and camped in Vadi Zered. ¹³ From there they traveled and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the desert; this river comes out of the territory of the Emori; for the Arnon is the boundary between Mo’av and the Emori. ¹⁴ This is why it says, in the Book of the Wars of Adonai, “. . . Vahev at Sufah, the vadis of Arnon, ¹⁵ and the slope of the vadis extending as far as the site of ‘Ar, which lie next to the territory of Mo’av.”

¹⁶ From there they went on to Be’er [well]; that is the well about which Adonai said to Moshe, “Assemble the people, and I will give them water.” ¹⁷ Then Isra’el sang this song:

From the desert they went to Mattanah, ¹⁹ from Mattanah to Nachali’el, from Nachali’el to Bamot, ²⁰ and from Bamot to the valley by the plain of Mo’av at the start of the Pisgah range, where it overlooks the desert.

(RY: iv, LY: vii) ²¹ Isra’el sent messengers to Sichon, king of the Emori, with this message: ²² “Let me pass through your land. We won’t turn aside into fields or vineyards, and we won’t drink any water from the wells. We will go along the King’s Highway until we have left your territory.” ²³ But Sichon would not allow Isra’el to pass through his territory. Instead, Sichon mustered all his people and went out into the desert to fight Isra’el. On reaching Yachatz, he fought Isra’el. ²⁴ Isra’el defeated him by force of arms and took control of his land from the Arnon to the Yabok River, but only as far as the people of ‘Amon, because the territory of the people of ‘Amon was well defended. ²⁵ Isra’el took all these cities — Isra’el lived in all the cities of the Emori, in Heshbon and all its surrounding towns. ²⁶ Heshbon was the city of Sichon, the king of the Emori, who had fought against the former king of Mo’av and conquered all his land up to the Arnon. ²⁷ This is why the storytellers say,

³¹ Thus Isra’el lived in the land of the Emori.

³² Moshe sent men to reconnoiter Ya‘zer; they captured its towns and drove out the Emori who were there.

³³ Then they turned and went up along the road to Bashan; and ‘Og, the king of Bashan, marched out against them, he with all his people, to fight at Edre‘i. (LY: Maftir) ³⁴ Adonai said to Moshe, “Don’t be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with all his people and his land. You will treat him just as you did Sichon, king of the Emori, who lived at Heshbon.” ³⁵ So they struck him down, with his sons and all his people, until there was no one left alive; and then they took control of his land.

22 Then the people of Isra’el traveled on and camped in the plains of Mo’av beyond the Yarden River, opposite Yericho.

Haftarah Hukkat: Shof’tim (Judges) 11:1–33

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Hukkat: Yochanan (John) 3:9–21; 4:3–30; 12:27–50

Parashah 40: Balak 22:2–25:9

[In regular years read with Parashah 39, in leap years read separately]

² Now Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that Isra’el had done to the Emori. ³ Mo’av was very afraid of the people, because there were so many of them; Mo’av was overcome with dread because of the people of Isra’el. ⁴ So Mo’av said to the leaders of Midyan, “This horde will lick up everything around us, the way an ox licks up grass in the field.”

Balak the son of Tzippor was king of Mo’av at that time. ⁵ He sent messengers to Bil‘am the son of B‘or, at P’tor by the [Euphrates] River in his native land, to tell him, “Listen, a people has come out of Egypt, spread over all the land and settled down next to me. ⁶ Therefore, please come, and curse this people for me, because they are stronger than I am. Maybe I will be able to strike them down and drive them out of the land, for I know that whomever you bless is in fact blessed, and whomever you curse is in fact cursed.” ⁷ The leaders of Mo’av and Midyan left, taking with them the payment for divining, came to Bil‘am and spoke to him the words of Balak. ⁸ He said to them, “Stay here tonight, and I will bring you back whatever answer Adonai tells me.” So the princes of Mo’av stayed with Bil‘am.

⁹ God came to Bil‘am and said, “Who are these men with you?” ¹⁰ Bil‘am said to God, “Balak the son of Tzippor, king of Mo’av, has sent me this message: ¹¹ ‘The people who came out of Egypt have spread over the land; now, come and curse them for me; maybe I will be able to fight against them and drive them out.’” ¹² God answered Bil‘am, “You are not to go with them; you are not to curse the people, because they are blessed.”

(RY: v; LY: ii) ¹³ Bil‘am got up in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Return to your own land, because Adonai refuses to give me permission to go with you.” ¹⁴ The princes of Mo’av got up, returned to Balak and said, “Bil‘am refuses to come with us.”

¹⁵ Balak again sent princes, more of them and of higher status than the first group. ¹⁶ They went to Bil‘am and said to him, “Here is what Balak the son of Tzippor says: ‘Please don’t let anything keep you from coming to me. ¹⁷ I will reward you very well, and whatever you say to me I will do. So please come, and curse this people for me.’” ¹⁸ Bil‘am answered the servants of Balak, “Even if Balak were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of Adonai my God to do anything, great or small. ¹⁹ Now, please, you too, stay here tonight; so that I may find out what else Adonai will say to me.” ²⁰ God came to Bil‘am during the night and said to him, “If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them; but do only what I tell you.”

(LY: iii) ²¹ So Bil‘am got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Mo’av. ²² But God’s anger flared up because he went, and the angel of Adonai stationed himself on the path to bar his way. He was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³ The donkey saw the angel of Adonai standing on the road, drawn sword in hand; so the donkey turned off the road into the field; and Bil‘am had to beat the donkey to get it back on the road. ²⁴ Then the angel of Adonai stood on the road where it became narrow as it passed among the vineyards and had stone walls on both sides. ²⁵ The donkey saw the angel of Adonai and pushed up against the wall, crushing Bil‘am’s foot against the wall. So he beat it again. ²⁶ The angel of Adonai moved ahead and stood in a place so tight that there was no room to turn either right or left. ²⁷ Again the donkey saw the angel of Adonai and lay down under Bil‘am, which made him so angry that he hit the donkey with his stick. ²⁸ But Adonai enabled the donkey to speak, and it said to Bil‘am, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” ²⁹ Bil‘am said to the donkey, “It’s because you’ve been making a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand; I would kill you on the spot!” ³⁰ The donkey said to Bil‘am, “I’m your donkey, right? You’ve ridden me all your life, right? Have I ever treated you like this before?” “No,” he admitted. ³¹ Then Adonai opened Bil‘am’s eyes, so that he could see the angel of Adonai standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, and he bowed his head and fell on his face. ³² The angel of Adonai said to him, “Why did you hit your donkey three times like that? I have come out here to bar your way, because you are rushing to oppose me. ³³ The donkey saw me and turned aside these three times; and indeed, if she hadn’t turned away from me, I would have killed you by now and saved it alive!” ³⁴ Bil‘am said to the angel of Adonai, “I have sinned. I didn’t know that you were standing on the road to block me. Now, therefore, if what I am doing displeases you, I will go back.” ³⁵ But the angel of Adonai said to Bil‘am, “No, go on with the men; but you are to say only what I tell you to say.” So Bil‘am went along with the princes of Balak.

³⁶ When Balak heard that Bil‘am had come, he went out to meet him in the city of Mo’av at the Arnon border, in the farthest reaches of the territory. ³⁷ Balak said to Bil‘am, “I sent more than once to summon you! Why didn’t you come to me? Did you think I couldn’t pay you enough?” ³⁸ Bil‘am replied to Balak, “Here, I’ve come to you! But I have no power of my own to say anything. The word that God puts in my mouth is what I will say.”

(RY: vi, LY: iv) ³⁹ Bil‘am went with Balak. When they arrived at Kiryat-Hutzot, ⁴⁰ Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, then sent to Bil‘am and the princes with him. ⁴¹ In the morning Balak took Bil‘am and brought him up to the high places of Ba‘al; from there he could see a portion of the people.