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Numbers 23-25
American Standard Version
Numbers 23-25
American Standard Version
23 1 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. 2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram. 3 And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go: peradventure Jehovah will come to meet me; and whatsoever he showeth me I will tell thee. And he went to a bare height. 4 And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar. 5 And Jehovah put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. 6 And he returned unto him, and, lo, he was standing by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab. 7 And he took up his parable, and said,
From Aram hath Balak brought me,
The king of Moab from the mountains of the East:
Come, curse me Jacob,
And come, [a]defy Israel.
8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed?
And how shall I defy, whom Jehovah hath not defied?
9 For from the top of the rocks I see him,
And from the hills I behold him:
Lo, it is a people that dwelleth alone,
And shall not be reckoned among the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob,
[b]Or number the fourth part of Israel?
Let [c]me die the death of the righteous,
And let my last end be like his!
11 And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether. 12 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which Jehovah putteth in my mouth?
13 And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence. 14 And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar. 15 And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt-offering, while I meet Jehovah yonder. 16 And Jehovah met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus shalt thou speak. 17 And he came to him, and, lo, he was standing by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath Jehovah spoken? 18 And he took up his parable, and said,
Rise up, Balak, and hear;
Hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:
19 God is not a man, that he should lie,
Neither the son of man, that he should repent:
Hath he said, and will he not do it?
Or hath he spoken, and will he not make it good?
20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless:
And he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob;
Neither hath he seen [d]perverseness in Israel:
Jehovah his God is with him,
And the shout of a king is among them.
22 God bringeth them forth out of Egypt;
He hath as it were the [e]strength of the [f]wild-ox.
23 Surely there is no enchantment [g]with Jacob;
Neither is there any divination [h]with Israel:
[i]Now shall it be [j]said of Jacob and of Israel,
What hath God wrought!
24 Behold, the people riseth up as a lioness,
And as a lion doth he lift himself up:
He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey,
And drink the blood of the slain.
25 And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. 26 But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that Jehovah speaketh, that I must do? 27 And Balak said unto Balaam, Come now, I will take thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. 28 And Balak took Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh down upon [k]the desert. 29 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar. 24 1 And when Balaam saw that it pleased Jehovah to bless Israel, he went not, as at the other times, to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness. 2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him. 3 And he took up his parable, and said,
Balaam the son of Beor saith,
And the man whose eye [l]was closed saith;
4 He saith, who heareth the words of God,
Who seeth the vision of the Almighty,
Falling down, and having his eyes open:
5 How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob,
Thy tabernacles, O Israel!
6 As valleys are they spread forth,
As gardens by the river-side,
As lign-aloes which Jehovah hath planted,
As cedar-trees beside the waters.
7 Water shall flow from his buckets,
And his seed shall be in many waters,
And his king shall be higher than Agag,
And his kingdom shall be exalted.
8 God bringeth him forth out of Egypt;
He hath as it were the strength of the wild-ox:
He shall eat up the nations his adversaries,
And shall break their bones in pieces,
And smite them through with his arrows.
9 He couched, he lay down as a lion,
And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?
Blessed be every one that blesseth thee,
And cursed be every one that curseth thee.
10 And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together; and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times. 11 Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote thee unto great honor; but, lo, Jehovah hath kept thee back from honor. 12 And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers that thou sentest unto me, saying, 13 If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of Jehovah, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; what Jehovah speaketh, that will I speak? 14 And now, behold, I go unto my people: come, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. 15 And he took up his parable, and said,
Balaam the son of Beor saith,
And the man whose eye [m]was closed saith;
16 He saith, who heareth the words of God,
And knoweth the knowledge of the Most High,
Who seeth the vision of the Almighty,
Falling down, and having his eyes open:
17 I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not nigh:
There shall come forth a star out of Jacob,
And a sceptre shall rise out of Israel,
And shall smite through the corners of Moab,
And break down all the sons [n]of tumult.
18 And Edom shall be a possession,
Seir also shall be a possession, who were his enemies;
While Israel doeth valiantly.
19 And out of Jacob shall one have dominion,
And shall destroy the remnant from the city.
20 And he looked on Amalek, and took up his parable, and said,
Amalek was the first of the nations;
But his latter end shall come to destruction.
21 And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said,
Strong is thy dwelling-place,
And thy nest is set in the rock.
22 Nevertheless [o]Kain shall be wasted,
[p]Until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
23 And he took up his parable, and said,
Alas, who shall live when God [q]doeth this?
24 But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim,
And they shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber;
And he also shall come to destruction.
25 And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.
25 And Israel abode in Shittim; and the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab: 2 for they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods; and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. 3 And Israel [r]joined himself unto [s]Baal-peor: and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel. 4 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up unto Jehovah before the sun, that the fierce anger of Jehovah may turn away from Israel. 5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that have joined themselves unto Baal-peor.
6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the tent of meeting. 7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand; 8 and he went after the man of Israel into the [t]pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. 9 And those that died by the plague were twenty and four thousand.
10 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: 13 and it shall be unto him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.
14 Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers’ house among the Simeonites. 15 And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a fathers’ house in Midian.
16 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 17 Vex the Midianites, and smite them; 18 for they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor.
Footnotes
- Numbers 23:7 Hebrew be wroth against.
- Numbers 23:10 Hebrew Or, by number, the etc.
- Numbers 23:10 Hebrew my soul.
- Numbers 23:21 Or, trouble
- Numbers 23:22 Or, horns
- Numbers 23:22 Or, ox-antelope. Hebrew reem.
- Numbers 23:23 Or, against
- Numbers 23:23 Or, against
- Numbers 23:23 Or, At the due season
- Numbers 23:23 Or, told to . . . what God hath wrought
- Numbers 23:28 Or, Jeshimon
- Numbers 24:3 Or, is opened
- Numbers 24:15 Or, is opened
- Numbers 24:17 Or, of Sheth
- Numbers 24:22 Or, the Kenites
- Numbers 24:22 Or, How long? Asshur etc.
- Numbers 24:23 Or, established him
- Numbers 25:3 Or, yoked
- Numbers 25:3 Or, the Baal of Peor. See 23:28.
- Numbers 25:8 Or, alcove
Numbers 23-25
New International Version
Numbers 23-25
New International Version
Balaam’s First Message
23 Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams(A) for me.” 2 Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.(B)
3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me.(C) Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.
4 God met with him,(D) and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”
5 The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth(E) and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”(F)
6 So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials.(G) 7 Then Balaam(H) spoke his message:(I)
“Balak brought me from Aram,(J)
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.(K)
‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.’(L)
8 How can I curse
those whom God has not cursed?(M)
How can I denounce
those whom the Lord has not denounced?(N)
9 From the rocky peaks I see them,
from the heights I view them.(O)
I see a people who live apart
and do not consider themselves one of the nations.(P)
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob(Q)
or number even a fourth of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous,(R)
and may my final end be like theirs!(S)”
11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies,(T) but you have done nothing but bless them!”(U)
12 He answered, “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”(V)
Balaam’s Second Message
13 Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place(W) where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp.(X) And from there, curse them for me.(Y)” 14 So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah,(Z) and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.(AA)
15 Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.”
16 The Lord met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth(AB) and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”
17 So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials.(AC) Balak asked him, “What did the Lord say?”
18 Then he spoke his message:(AD)
“Arise, Balak, and listen;
hear me, son of Zippor.(AE)
19 God is not human,(AF) that he should lie,(AG)
not a human being, that he should change his mind.(AH)
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise(AI) and not fulfill?
20 I have received a command to bless;(AJ)
he has blessed,(AK) and I cannot change it.(AL)
21 “No misfortune is seen in Jacob,(AM)
no misery observed[a] in Israel.(AN)
The Lord their God is with them;(AO)
the shout of the King(AP) is among them.
22 God brought them out of Egypt;(AQ)
they have the strength of a wild ox.(AR)
23 There is no divination against[b] Jacob,
no evil omens(AS) against[c] Israel.
It will now be said of Jacob
and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’
24 The people rise like a lioness;(AT)
they rouse themselves like a lion(AU)
that does not rest till it devours its prey
and drinks the blood(AV) of its victims.”
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”
26 Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the Lord says?”(AW)
Balaam’s Third Message
27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place.(AX) Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me(AY) from there.” 28 And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor,(AZ) overlooking the wasteland.
29 Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” 30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.(BA)
24 Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel,(BB) he did not resort to divination(BC) as at other times, but turned his face toward the wilderness.(BD) 2 When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came on him(BE) 3 and he spoke his message:
“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor,
the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,(BF)
4 the prophecy of one who hears the words of God,(BG)
who sees a vision from the Almighty,[d](BH)
who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:
5 “How beautiful are your tents,(BI) Jacob,
your dwelling places, Israel!
6 “Like valleys they spread out,
like gardens beside a river,(BJ)
like aloes(BK) planted by the Lord,
like cedars beside the waters.(BL)
7 Water will flow from their buckets;
their seed will have abundant water.
8 “God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox.
They devour hostile nations
and break their bones in pieces;(BO)
with their arrows they pierce them.(BP)
9 Like a lion they crouch and lie down,
like a lioness(BQ)—who dares to rouse them?
10 Then Balak’s anger burned(BT) against Balaam. He struck his hands together(BU) and said to him, “I summoned you to curse my enemies,(BV) but you have blessed them(BW) these three times.(BX) 11 Now leave at once and go home!(BY) I said I would reward you handsomely,(BZ) but the Lord has kept you from being rewarded.”
12 Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell the messengers you sent me,(CA) 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(CB)—and I must say only what the Lord says’?(CC) 14 Now 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.”(CD)
Balaam’s Fourth Message
15 Then he spoke his message:
“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor,
the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,
16 the prophecy of one who hears the words(CE) of God,
who has knowledge from the Most High,(CF)
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.(CG)
A star will come out of Jacob;(CH)
a scepter will rise out of Israel.(CI)
He will crush the foreheads of Moab,(CJ)
the skulls[e](CK) of[f] all the people of Sheth.[g]
18 Edom(CL) will be conquered;
Seir,(CM) his enemy, will be conquered,(CN)
but Israel(CO) will grow strong.
19 A ruler will come out of Jacob(CP)
and destroy the survivors of the city.”
Balaam’s Fifth Message
20 Then Balaam saw Amalek(CQ) and spoke his message:
“Amalek was first among the nations,
but their end will be utter destruction.”(CR)
Balaam’s Sixth Message
21 Then he saw the Kenites(CS) and spoke his message:
“Your dwelling place is secure,(CT)
your nest is set in a rock;
22 yet you Kenites will be destroyed
when Ashur(CU) takes you captive.”
Balaam’s Seventh Message
23 Then he spoke his message:
“Alas! Who can live when God does this?[h]
24 Ships will come from the shores of Cyprus;(CV)
they will subdue Ashur(CW) and Eber,(CX)
but they too will come to ruin.(CY)”
25 Then Balaam(CZ) got up and returned home, and Balak went his own way.
Moab Seduces Israel
25 While Israel was staying in Shittim,(DA) the men began to indulge in sexual immorality(DB) with Moabite(DC) women,(DD) 2 who invited them to the sacrifices(DE) to their gods.(DF) The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. 3 So Israel yoked themselves to(DG) the Baal of Peor.(DH) And the Lord’s anger burned against them.
4 The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders(DI) of these people, kill them and expose(DJ) them in broad daylight before the Lord,(DK) so that the Lord’s fierce anger(DL) may turn away from Israel.”
5 So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death(DM) those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”(DN)
6 Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite(DO) woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping(DP) at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas(DQ) son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear(DR) in his hand 8 and 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;(DS) 9 but those who died in the plague(DT) numbered 24,000.(DU)
10 The Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites.(DV) Since he was as zealous for my honor(DW) among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal. 12 Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace(DX) with him. 13 He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood,(DY) because he was zealous(DZ) for the honor(EA) of his God and made atonement(EB) for the Israelites.”(EC)
14 The name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman(ED) was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family.(EE) 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was put to death was Kozbi(EF) daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.(EG)
16 The Lord said to Moses,(EH) 17 “Treat the Midianites(EI) as enemies(EJ) and kill them.(EK) 18 They treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the Peor incident(EL) involving their sister Kozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the plague came as a result of that incident.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 23:21 Or He has not looked on Jacob’s offenses / or on the wrongs found
- Numbers 23:23 Or in
- Numbers 23:23 Or in
- Numbers 24:4 Hebrew Shaddai; also in verse 16
- 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.
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