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Numbers 23-25
Easy-to-Read Version
Numbers 23-25
Easy-to-Read Version
Balaam’s First Message
23 Balaam said, “Build seven altars here. And prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” 2 Balak did what Balaam asked. Then Balak and Balaam killed a ram and a bull on each of the altars.
3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here near this altar. I will go to another place. Then the Lord will come to me, and he will tell me what I must say.” Then Balaam went away to a higher place.
4 God came to Balaam at that place, and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars. And I have killed a bull and a ram as a sacrifice on each altar.”
5 Then the Lord gave Balaam a message for Balak and said, “Go back to Balak and say the things that I have given you to say.”
6 So Balaam went back to Balak. Balak was still standing near the altar, and all the leaders of Moab were standing there with them. 7 Then Balaam spoke, and this was his message:
“Balak, the king of Moab,
brought me here from the eastern mountains of Aram.
Balak said to me,
‘Come, curse Jacob for me.
Come, speak against the Israelites.’
8 But God is not against them,
so I cannot speak against them either!
The Lord has not asked for bad things to happen to these people.
So I cannot do that either.
9 I see these people from the mountain.
I see them from the high hills.
They live alone.
They are not part of another nation.
10 Who can count Jacob’s people?
They are as many as the grains of dust.
No one can count even a fourth of the Israelites.
Let me die like a good man.
Let my life end as happy as theirs!”
11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them!”
12 But Balaam answered, “I must say the things that the Lord tells me to say.”
13 Then Balak said to him, “So come with me to another place. At that place you can see more of these people. You cannot see all of them—you can only see part of them. Maybe from that place you can curse them for me.” 14 So Balak led Balaam to Watchmen Hills.[a] This was on top of Mount Pisgah. There Balak built seven altars and killed a bull and a ram on each altar as a sacrifice.
15 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here by this altar while I go meet with God over there.”
16 So the Lord came to Balaam and told Balaam what to say. Then he told Balaam to go back to Balak and say these things. 17 So Balaam went to Balak. Balak was still standing near the altar. The leaders of Moab were there with him. Balak saw Balaam coming and said, “What did the Lord say?”
Balaam’s Second Message
18 Then Balaam said this:
“Stand up, Balak, and listen to me.
Hear me, Balak son of Zippor.
19 God is not a man;
he will not lie.
God is not a human being;
his decisions will not change.
If he says he will do something,
then he will do it.
If he makes a promise,
then he will do what he promised.
20 He told me to bless them.
He blessed them, so I cannot change that.
21 God saw no wrong in Jacob’s people.
He saw no sin in the Israelites.
The Lord is their God,
and he is with them.
The Great King is with them!
22 God brought them out of Egypt.
They are as strong as a wild ox.
23 There is no power that can defeat the people of Jacob.
There is no magic that can stop the Israelites.
People will say this about Jacob and the Israelites:
‘Look at the great things God did!’[b]
24 The people are as strong as lions,
and they fight like lions.
And a lion will not rest until it eats what it has caught,
until it drinks the blood of what it has killed.”
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “You didn’t ask for good things to happen to these people, but you didn’t ask for bad things to happen to them either!”
26 Balaam answered, “I told you before that I can only say what the Lord tells me to say.”
27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “So come with me to another place. Maybe God will be pleased and will allow you to curse them from that place.” 28 So Balak led Balaam to the top of Mount Peor, which looks out over the desert.
29 Balaam said, “Build seven altars here. Then prepare seven bulls and seven rams for the altars.” 30 Balak did what Balaam asked. Balak offered the bulls and rams on the altars.
Balaam’s Third Message
24 Balaam saw that the Lord wanted to bless Israel, so he did not try to change that by using any kind of magic. But Balaam turned and looked toward the desert. 2 He looked out across the desert and saw all the Israelites. They were camped with the tribes in their different areas. Then the Spirit of God came on him, 3 and he gave this message:
“This message is from Balaam son of Beor.
I am speaking about things I see clearly.
4 These are the words I heard from God.
I saw what God All-Powerful[c] showed me.
I humbly tell what I clearly see.
5 “People of Jacob, your tents are beautiful!
Israelites, your homes are beautiful!
6 You are like rows of palm trees planted by the streams.
You are like gardens growing by the rivers.
You are like sweet-smelling bushes planted by the Lord.
You are like cedar trees growing by the water.
7 You will always have enough water,
enough water for your seeds to grow.
Your king will be greater than King Agag.
Your kingdom will be very great.
8 “God brought them out of Egypt.
They are as strong as a wild ox.
They will defeat all their enemies.
They will break their bones and shatter their arrows.
9 Israel is like a lion,
curled up and lying down.
Yes, they are like a young lion,
and no one wants to wake him!
Anyone who blesses you will be blessed.
And anyone who curses you will have great troubles.”
10 When Balak heard this, he angrily struck his fist against his hand and said to Balaam, “I called you to come and curse my enemies. But you have blessed them. You have blessed them three times. 11 Now leave and go home! I told you that I would give you a very good payment, but the Lord has caused you to lose your reward.”
12 Balaam said to Balak, “You sent men to ask me to come. Don’t you remember what I told them? I said, 13 ‘Even if Balak gives me his most beautiful house filled with silver and gold, I can still say only what the Lord commands me to say. I cannot do anything myself, good or bad. I must say what the Lord commands.’ 14 Now I am going back to my own people. But I will give you this warning. I will tell you what these Israelites will do to you and your people in the future.”
Balaam’s Last Message
15 Then Balaam gave this message:
“This message is from Balaam son of Beor.
I am speaking about things I see clearly.
16 I heard this message from God.
I learned what God Most High taught me.
I saw what God All-Powerful showed me.
I humbly tell what I clearly see.
17 “I see him coming, but not now.
I see him coming, but not soon.
A star will come from the family of Jacob.
A new ruler will come from the Israelites.
He will smash the heads of the Moabites
and crush the heads of all the sons of Sheth.[d]
18 Israel will grow strong!
He will get the land of Edom.
He will get the land of Seir,[e] his enemy.
19 “A new ruler will come from the family of Jacob.
That ruler will destroy the people left alive in that city.”
20 Then Balaam saw the Amalekites and said this:
“Amalek is the strongest of all nations,
but even Amalek will be destroyed!”
21 Then Balaam saw the Kenites and said this:
“You believe that your country is safe,
like a bird’s nest[f] high on a mountain.
22 But you Kenites will be destroyed,
just as the Lord destroyed Cain.
Assyria will make you prisoners.”
23 Then Balaam said this:
“No one can live when God does this.
24 Ships will come from Cyprus.[g]
They will defeat Assyria and Eber,[h]
but those ships will also be destroyed.”
25 Then Balaam got up and went back home, and Balak went his own way.
Israel at Peor
25 While the Israelites were camped near Acacia, the men committed sexual sins[i] with Moabite women. 2-3 The Moabite women invited the men to come and join in their sacrifices to their false gods. So the Israelites joined in worshiping these false gods—they ate the sacrifices and worshiped these gods. There the Israelites began worshiping the false god, Baal of Peor. And the Lord became very angry with them.
4 The Lord said to Moses, “Get all the leaders of these people. Then kill them so that all the people can see.[j] Lay their bodies before the Lord. Then the Lord will not show his anger against all the Israelites.”
5 So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must find the men in your tribe who have led people to worship the false god, Baal of Peor. Then you must kill these men.”
6 At the time Moses and all the elders of Israel were gathered together at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. An Israelite man brought a Midianite woman home to his brothers.[k] He did this where Moses and all the leaders could see. Moses and the leaders were very sad. 7 Phinehas was the son of Eleazar and the grandson of Aaron the priest. Phinehas saw this man bring the woman into camp. So he left the meeting and got his spear. 8 He followed the Israelite into the tent. Then he used the spear to kill the Israelite man and the Midianite woman in her tent.[l] He pushed the spear through both of their bodies. At that time there was a great sickness among the Israelites. But when Phinehas killed these two people, the sickness stopped. 9 A total of 24,000 people died from that sickness.
10 The Lord said to Moses, 11 “I was so angry with the Israelites that I wanted to kill them. But Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest, has saved them from my anger. He did this by showing that he feels strongly, just as I do, that my people must worship only me. 12 Tell Phinehas that I am making a peace agreement with him. 13 This is the agreement: He and all of his family who live after him will always be priests, because he had strong feelings for his God. And he did what was needed to make the Israelites pure.”
14 The Israelite man who was killed with the Midianite woman was named Zimri son of Salu. He was the leader of a family in the tribe of Simeon. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi.[m] She was the daughter of Zur. Zur was the head of a family and leader of a Midianite tribe.
16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 “The Midianites are your enemies. You must kill them. 18 They have already made you their enemies. They tricked you at Peor. And they tricked you with the woman named Cozbi. She was the daughter of a Midianite leader, but she was killed when the sickness came to the Israelites. That sickness was caused because the people were tricked into worshiping the false god Baal of Peor.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 23:14 Watchmen Hills Or “the fields of Zophim.”
- Numbers 23:23 Or “There is no fortunetelling in Jacob, no magic in Israel. God tells them immediately what he plans to do.”
- Numbers 24:4 God All-Powerful Literally, “El Shaddai.” Also in verse 16.
- Numbers 24:17 sons of Sheth Or “Seth.” Seth was Adam’s third son. This might be like the phrases “son of Man” (Adam) and “son of Enosh” and mean simply “all these people.”
- Numbers 24:18 Seir Another name for Edom.
- Numbers 24:21 nest, Kenite, Cain A play on words. The names “Cain” and “Kenite” are like the Hebrew word meaning “nest.”
- Numbers 24:24 Cyprus Literally, “Kittim.” This might be Cyprus, Crete, or other places west of Israel in the Mediterranean Sea.
- Numbers 24:24 Eber This might mean the people living west of the Euphrates River, or it might mean the “Hebrews,” the descendants of Eber. See Gen. 10:21.
- Numbers 25:1 sexual sins Sexual sin was often connected with temples for false gods. So this can mean that the men were unfaithful to their wives and also that they were unfaithful to God by going to their temples.
- Numbers 25:4 so that all the people can see Literally, “before the sun.”
- Numbers 25:6 brothers Or “family.”
- Numbers 25:8 her tent This was probably a special tent that showed this woman was a prostitute serving the false god, Baal of Peor.
- Numbers 25:15 Cozbi This name is like the Hebrew word meaning “my lie.”
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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