Blessings from Unexpected Places

¹The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho.

²Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

³Moab was very afraid of the people, because they were many. Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.

⁴Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this multitude will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.

⁵He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt. Behold, they cover the surface of the earth, and they are staying opposite me.

⁶Please come now therefore, and curse this people for me; for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall prevail, that we may strike them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

⁷The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand. They came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak.

⁸He said to them, “Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the LORD shall speak to me.” The princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

⁹God came to Balaam, and said, “Who are these men with you?”

¹⁰Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has said to me,

¹¹‘Behold, the people that has come out of Egypt covers the surface of the earth. Now, come curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them, and shall drive them out.’”

¹²God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”

¹³Balaam rose up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your land; for the LORD refuses to permit me to go with you.”

¹⁴The princes of Moab rose up, and they went to Balak, and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.”

¹⁵Balak again sent princes, more, and more honorable than they.

¹⁶They came to Balaam, and said to him, “Balak the son of Zippor says, ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me,

¹⁷for I will promote you to very great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Please come therefore, and curse this people for me.’”

¹⁸Balaam answered the servants of Balak, “If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more.

¹⁹Now therefore please stay here tonight as well, that I may know what else the LORD will speak to me.”

²⁰God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak to you, that you shall do.”

²¹Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.

²²God’s anger burned because he went; and the LORD’s angel placed himself in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

²³The donkey saw the LORD’s angel standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the donkey turned out of the path, and went into the field. Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the path.

²⁴Then the LORD’s angel stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side.

²⁵The donkey saw the LORD’s angel, and she thrust herself to the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. He struck her again.

²⁶The LORD’s angel went further, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.

²⁷The donkey saw the LORD’s angel, and she lay down under Balaam. Balaam’s anger burned, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

²⁸The LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”

²⁹Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have mocked me, I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would have killed you.”

³⁰The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long until today? Was I ever in the habit of doing so to you?” He said, “No.”

³¹Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the LORD’s angel standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face.

³²The LORD’s angel said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me.

³³The donkey saw me, and turned away before me these three times. Unless she had turned away from me, surely now I would have killed you, and saved her alive.”

³⁴Balaam said to the LORD’s angel, “I have sinned; for I didn’t know that you stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases you, I will go back again.”

³⁵The LORD’s angel said to Balaam, “Go with the men; but you shall only speak the word that I shall speak to you.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

³⁶When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him to the City of Moab, which is on the border of the Arnon, which is in the utmost part of the border.

³⁷Balak said to Balaam, “Didn’t I earnestly send for you to summon you? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I not able indeed to promote you to honor?”

³⁸Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come to you. Have I now any power at all to speak anything? I will speak the word that God puts in my mouth.”

³⁹Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath Huzoth.

⁴⁰Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes who were with him.

⁴¹In the morning, Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal; and he saw from there part of the people.

¹Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.”

²Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.

³Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” He went to a bare height.

⁴God met Balaam, and he said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.”

⁵The LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”

⁶He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.

⁷He took up his parable, and said, “From Aram has Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East. Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, defy Israel.

⁸How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy whom the LORD has not defied?

⁹For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be listed among the nations.

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob, or count the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!”

¹¹Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether.”

¹²He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD puts in my mouth?”

¹³Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you may see them. You shall see just part of them, and shall not see them all. Curse them from there for me.”

¹⁴He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.

¹⁵He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet God over there.”

¹⁶The LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.”

¹⁷He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has the LORD spoken?”

¹⁸He took up his parable, and said, “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor.

¹⁹God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and he won’t do it? Or has he spoken, and he won’t make it good?

²⁰Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it.

²¹He has not seen iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. The LORD his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them.

²²God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.

²³Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; neither is there any divination with Israel. Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘What has God done!’

²⁴Behold, a people rises up as a lioness. As a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eats of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.”

²⁵Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.”

²⁶But Balaam answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that the LORD speaks, that I must do’?”

²⁷Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.”

²⁸Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert.

²⁹Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”

³⁰Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.

¹When Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he didn’t go, as at the other times, to use divination, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

²Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came on him.

³He took up his parable, and said, “Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eyes are open says;

⁴he says, who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open:

⁵How goodly are your tents, Jacob, and your dwellings, Israel!

⁶As valleys they are spread out, as gardens by the riverside, as aloes which the LORD has planted, as cedar trees beside the waters.

⁷Water shall flow from his buckets. His seed shall be in many waters. His king shall be higher than Agag. His kingdom shall be exalted.

⁸God brings him out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. He shall consume the nations his adversaries, shall break their bones in pieces, and pierce them with his arrows.

⁹He couched, he lay down as a lion, as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? Everyone who blesses you is blessed. Everyone who curses you is cursed.”

¹⁰Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have altogether blessed them these three times.

¹¹Therefore, flee to your place, now! I thought to promote you to great honor; but, behold, the LORD has kept you back from honor.”

¹²Balaam said to Balak, “Didn’t I also tell your messengers whom you sent to me, saying,

¹³‘If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond the LORD’s word, to do either good or bad from my own mind. I will say what the LORD says’?

¹⁴Now, behold, I go to my people. Come, I will inform you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days.”

¹⁵He took up his parable, and said, “Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eyes are open says;

¹⁶he says, who hears the words of God, knows the knowledge of the Most High, and who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open:

¹⁷I see him, but not now. I see him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel, and shall strike through the corners of Moab, and crush all the sons of Sheth.

¹⁸Edom shall be a possession. Seir, his enemy, also shall be a possession, while Israel does valiantly.

¹⁹Out of Jacob shall one have dominion, and shall destroy the remnant from the city.”

²⁰He looked at Amalek, and took up his parable, and said, “Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter end shall come to destruction.”

²¹He looked at the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, “Your dwelling place is strong. Your nest is set in the rock.

²²Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, until Asshur carries you away captive.”

²³He took up his parable, and said, “Alas, who shall live when God does this?

²⁴But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim. They shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber. He also shall come to destruction.”

²⁵Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.

¹Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab;

²for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods.

³Israel joined himself to Baal Peor, and the LORD’s anger burned against Israel.

⁴The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up to the LORD before the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.”

⁵Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Everyone kill his men who have joined themselves to Baal Peor.”

⁶Behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought to his brothers a Midianite 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.

⁷When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the middle of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand.

⁸He went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel.

⁹Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

¹⁰The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹¹“Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy.

¹²Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace.

¹³It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’”

¹⁴Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers’ house among the Simeonites.

¹⁵The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur. He was head of the people of a fathers’ house in Midian.

¹⁶The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁷“Harass the Midianites, and strike them;

¹⁸for they harassed you with their wiles, wherein they have deceived you in the matter of Peor, and in the incident regarding Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor.”