23 And Balaam saith unto Balak, `Build for me in this [place] seven altars, and make ready for me in this [place] seven bullocks and seven rams.'

² And Balak doth as Balaam hath spoken, and Balak -- Balaam also -- offereth a bullock and a ram on the altar,

³ and Balaam saith to Balak, `Station thyself by thy burnt-offering and I go on, it may be Jehovah doth come to meet me, and the thing which He sheweth me -- I have declared to thee;' and he goeth [to] a high place.

⁴ And God cometh unto Balaam, and he saith unto Him, `The seven altars I have arranged, and I offer a bullock and a ram on the altar;'

⁵ and Jehovah putteth a word in the mouth of Balaam, and saith, `Turn back unto Balak, and thus thou dost speak.'

⁶ And he turneth back unto him, and lo, he is standing by his burnt-offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

⁷ And he taketh up his simile, and saith: `From Aram he doth lead me -- Balak king of Moab; From mountains of the east: Come -- curse for me Jacob, And come -- be indignant [with] Israel.

⁸ What -- do I pierce? -- God hath not pierced! And what -- am I indignant? -- Jehovah hath not been indignant!

⁹ For from the top of rocks I see it, And from heights I behold it; Lo a people! alone it doth tabernacle, And among nations doth not reckon itself.

¹⁰ Who hath counted the dust of Jacob, And the number of the fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of upright ones, And let my last end be like his!'

¹¹ And Balak saith unto Balaam, `What hast thou done to me? to pierce mine enemies I have taken thee -- and lo, thou hast certainly blessed;'

¹² and he answereth and saith, `That which Jehovah doth put in my mouth -- it do I not take heed to speak?'

¹³ And Balak saith unto him, `Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, whence thou dost see it, only its extremity thou dost see, and all of it thou dost not see, and pierce it for me thence;'

¹⁴ and he taketh him [to] the field of Zophim, unto the top of Pisgah, and buildeth seven altars, and offereth a bullock and a ram on the altar.

¹⁵ And he saith unto Balak, `Station thyself here by thy burnt-offering, and I -- I meet [Him] there;'

¹⁶ and Jehovah cometh unto Balaam, and setteth a word in his mouth, and saith, `Turn back unto Balak, and thus thou dost speak.'

¹⁷ And he cometh unto him, and lo, he is standing by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him, and Balak saith to him: `What hath Jehovah spoken?'

¹⁸ And he taketh up his simile, and saith: `Rise, Balak, and hear; Give ear unto me, son of Zippor!

¹⁹ God [is] not a man -- and lieth, And a son of man -- and repenteth! Hath He said -- and doth He not do [it]? And spoken -- and doth He not confirm it?

²⁰ Lo, to bless I have received: Yea, He blesseth, and I [can]not reverse it.

²¹ He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, Nor hath He seen perverseness in Israel; Jehovah his God [is] with him, And a shout of a king [is] in him.

²² God is bringing them out from Egypt, As the swiftness of a Reem is to him;

²³ For no enchantment [is] against Jacob, Nor divination against Israel, At the time it is said of Jacob and Israel, What hath God wrought!

²⁴ Lo, the people as a lioness riseth, And as a lion he lifteth himself up, He lieth not down till he eateth prey, And blood of pierced ones doth drink.'

²⁵ And Balak saith unto Balaam, `Neither pierce it at all, nor bless it at all;'

²⁶ and Balaam answereth and saith unto Balak, `Have I not spoken unto thee, saying, All that Jehovah speaketh -- it I do?'

²⁷ And Balak saith unto Balaam, `Come, I pray thee, I take thee unto another place; it may be it is right in the eyes of God -- to pierce it for me from thence.'

²⁸ And Balak taketh Balaam to the top of Peor, which is looking on the front of the wilderness,

²⁹ and Balaam saith unto Balak, `Build for me in this [place] seven altars, and make ready for me in this [place] seven bullocks and seven rams;'

³⁰ and Balak doth as Balaam said, and he offereth a bullock and a ram on an altar.

24 And Balaam seeth that [it is] good in the eyes of Jehovah to bless Israel, and he hath not gone as time by time to meet enchantments, and he setteth towards the wilderness his face;

² and Balaam lifteth up his eyes, and seeth Israel tabernacling, by its tribes, and the Spirit of God is upon him,

³ and he taketh up his simile, and saith: `An affirmation of Balaam son of Beor -- And an affirmation of the man whose eyes are shut --

⁴ An affirmation of him who is hearing sayings of God -- Who a vision of the Almighty seeth, Falling -- and eyes uncovered:

⁵ How good have been thy tents, O Jacob, Thy tabernacles, O Israel;

⁶ As valleys they have been stretched out, As gardens by a river; As aloes Jehovah hath planted, As cedars by waters;

⁷ He maketh water flow from his buckets, And his seed [is] in many waters; And higher than Agag [is] his king, And exalted is his kingdom.

⁸ God is bringing him out of Egypt; As the swiftness of a Reem is to him, He eateth up nations his adversaries, And their bones he breaketh, And [with] his arrows he smiteth,

⁹ He hath bent, he hath lain down as a lion, And as a lioness: who doth raise him up? He who is blessing thee [is] blessed, And he who is cursing thee [is] cursed.'

¹⁰ And the anger of Balak burneth against Balaam, and he striketh his hands; and Balak saith unto Balaam, `To pierce mine enemies I called thee, and lo, thou hast certainly blessed -- these three times;

¹¹ and now, flee for thyself unto thy place; I have said, I do greatly honour thee, and lo, Jehovah hath kept thee back from honour.'

¹² And Balaam saith unto Balak, `Did I not also unto thy messengers whom thou hast sent unto me, speak, saying,

¹³ If Balak doth give to me the fulness of his house of silver and gold, I am not able to pass over the command of Jehovah, to do good or evil of mine own heart -- that which Jehovah speaketh -- it I speak?

¹⁴ and, now, lo, I am going to my people; come, I counsel thee [concerning] that which this people doth to thy people, in the latter end of the days.'

¹⁵ And he taketh up his simile, and saith: `An affirmation of Balaam son of Beor -- And an affirmation of the man whose eyes [are] shut --

¹⁶ An affirmation of him who is hearing sayings of God -- And knowing knowledge of the Most High; A vision of the Almighty he seeth, Falling -- and eyes uncovered:

¹⁷ I see it, but not now; I behold it, but not near; A star hath proceeded from Jacob, And a sceptre hath risen from Israel, And hath smitten corners of Moab, And hath destroyed all sons of Sheth.

¹⁸ And Edom hath been a possession, And Seir hath been a possession, [for] its enemies, And Israel is doing valiantly;

¹⁹ And [one] doth rule out of Jacob, And hath destroyed a remnant from Ar.'

²⁰ And he seeth Amalek, and taketh up his simile, and saith: `A beginning of the Goyim [is] Amalek; And his latter end -- for ever he perisheth.'

²¹ And he seeth the Kenite, and taketh up his simile, and saith: `Enduring [is] thy dwelling, And setting in a rock thy nest,

²² But the Kenite is for a burning; Till when doth Asshur keep thee captive?'

²³ And he taketh up his simile, and saith: `Alas! who doth live when God doth this?

²⁴ And -- ships [are] from the side of Chittim, And they have humbled Asshur, And they have humbled Eber, And it also for ever is perishing.'

²⁵ And Balaam riseth, and goeth, and turneth back to his place, and Balak also hath gone on his way.

25 And Israel dwelleth in Shittim, and the people begin to go a-whoring unto daughters of Moab,

² and they call for the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people eat, and bow themselves to their gods,

³ and Israel is joined to Baal-Peor, and the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel.

⁴ And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them before Jehovah -- over-against the sun; and the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah doth turn back from Israel.'

⁵ And Moses saith unto the judges of Israel, `Slay ye each his men who are joined to Baal-Peor.'

⁶ And lo, a man of the sons of Israel hath come, and bringeth in unto his brethren the Midianitess, before the eyes of Moses, and before the eyes of all the company of the sons of Israel, who are weeping at the opening of the tent of meeting;

⁷ and Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, seeth, and riseth from the midst of the company, and taketh a javelin in his hand,

⁸ and goeth in after the man of Israel unto the hollow place, and pierceth them both, the man of Israel and the woman -- unto her belly, and the plague is restrained from the sons of Israel;

⁹ and the dead by the plague are four and twenty thousand.

¹⁰ And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

¹¹ `Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, hath turned back My fury from the sons of Israel, by his being zealous with My zeal in their midst, and I have not consumed the sons of Israel in My zeal.

¹² `Therefore say, Lo, I am giving to him My covenant of peace,

¹³ and it hath been to him and to his seed after him a covenant of a priesthood age-during, because that he hath been zealous for his God, and doth make atonement for the sons of Israel.'

¹⁴ And the name of the man of Israel who is smitten, who hath been smitten with the Midianitess, [is] Zimri son of Salu, prince of the house of a father of the Simeonite;

¹⁵ and the name of the woman who is smitten, the Midianitess, [is] Cozbi daughter of Zur, head of a people -- of the house of a father in Midian [is] he.

¹⁶ And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

¹⁷ `Distress the Midianites, and ye have smitten them,

¹⁸ for they are adversaries to you with their frauds, [with] which they have acted fraudulently to you, concerning the matter of Peor, and concerning the matter of Cozbi, daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, who is smitten in the day of the plague for the matter of Peor.'