Up, Balak, attend,
Give ear unto me, son of Zippor!
19God is not man to be capricious,
Or mortal to change His mind.
Would He speak and not act,
Promise and not fulfill?
20My message was to bless:
When He blesses, I cannot reverse it.
21No harm is in sight for Jacob,
No woe in view for Israel.
The LORD their God is with them,
And their King’s acclaim in their midst.
22God who freed them from Egypt
Is for them like the hornsg of the wild ox.
23Lo, there is no augury in Jacob,
No divining in Israel:h
Jacob is told at once,
Yea Israel, what God has planned.i
24Lo, a people that rises like a lion,
Leaps up like the j-king of beasts,-j
Rests not till it has feasted on prey
And drunk the blood of the slain.
25Thereupon Balak said to Balaam, “Don’t curse them and don’t bless them!” 26In reply, Balaam said to Balak, “But I told you: Whatever the LORD says, that I must do.” 27Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps God will deem it right that you damn them for me there.” 28Balak took Balaam to the peak of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.k 29Balaam said to Balak, “Build me here seven altars, and have seven bulls and seven rams ready for me here.” 30Balak did as Balaam said: he offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.
24 Now Balaam, seeing that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, did not, as on previous occasions, go in search of omens, but turned his face toward the wilderness. 2As Balaam looked up and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the spirit of God came upon him. 3Taking up his theme, he said:
aWord of Balaam son of Beor,
Word of the man whose eye is true,b
4Word of him who hears God’s speech,
Who beholds visions from the Almighty,
Prostrate, but with eyes unveiled:
5How fair are your tents, O Jacob,
Your dwellings, O Israel!
6Like palm-groves that stretch out,
Like gardens beside a river,
Like aloes planted by the LORD,
Like cedars beside the water;
7Their boughs drip with moisture,
Their rootsc have abundant water.
Their king shall rise above Agag,
Their kingdom shall be exalted.
8God who freed them from Egypt
Is for them like the hornsd of the wild ox.
They shall devour enemy nations,
Crush their bones,
And smash their arrows.
9They crouch, they lie down like a lion,
Like the king of beasts;e who dare rouse them?
Blessed are they who bless you,
Accursed they who curse you!
10Enraged at Balaam, Balak struck his hands together. “I called you,” Balak said to Balaam, “to damn my enemies, and instead you have blessed them these three times! 11Back with you at once to your own place! I was going to reward you richly, but the LORD has denied you the reward.” 12Balaam replied to Balak, “But I even told the messengers you sent to me, 13‘Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not of my own accord do anything good or bad contrary to the LORD’s command. What the LORD says, that I must say.’ 14And now, as I go back to my people, let me inform you of what this people will do to your people in days to come.” 15He took up his theme, and said:
Word of Balaam son of Beor,
Word of the man whose eye is true,b
16Word of him who hears God’s speech,
Who obtains knowledge from the Most High,
And beholds visions from the Almighty,
Prostrate, but with eyes unveiled:
17What I see for them is not yet,
What I behold will not be soon:
A star rises from Jacob,
A scepter comes forth from Israel;
It smashes the brow of Moab,
The foundation off all children of Seth.
18Edom becomes a possession,
Yea, Seir a possession of its enemies;
But Israel is triumphant.
19A victor issues from Jacob
To wipe out what is left of Ir.
20He saw Amalek and, taking up his theme, he said:
A leading nation is Amalek;
But its fate is to perish forever.
21He saw the Kenites and, taking up his theme, he said:
Though your abode be secure,
And your nest be set among cliffs,
22Yet shall Kaing be consumed,
When Asshur takes you captive.
23He took up his theme and said:
Alas, who can survive except God has willed it!
24Ships come from the quarter of Kittim;
They subject Asshur, subject Eber.
They, too, shall perish forever.
25Then Balaam set out on his journey back home; and Balak also went his way.
25 While Israel was staying at Shittim, the people a-profaned themselves by whoring-a with the Moabite women, 2who invited the people to the sacrifices for their god. The people partook of them and worshiped that god. 3Thus Israel attached itself to Baal-peor, and the LORD was incensed with Israel. 4The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the ringleadersb and have them publiclyc impaled before the LORD, so that the LORD’s wrath may turn away from Israel.” 5So Moses said to Israel’s officials, “Each of you slay those of his men who attached themselves to Baalpeor.”
6Just then one of the Israelites came and brought a Midianite woman over to his companions, in the sight of Moses and of the whole Israelite community who were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. 7When Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saw this, he left the assembly and, taking a spear in his hand, 8he followed the Israelite into the chamber and stabbed both of them, the Israelite and the woman, through the belly. Then the plague against the Israelites was checked. 9Those who died of the plague numbered twenty-four thousand.
10The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 11“Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites by displaying among them his passion for Me, so that I did not wipe out the Israelite people in My passion. 12Say, therefore, ‘I grant him My pact of friendship. 13It shall be for him and his descendants after him a pact of priesthood for all time, because he took impassioned action for his God, thus making expiation for the Israelites.’ ”
14The name of the Israelite who was killed, the one who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri son of Salu, chieftain of a Simconite ancestral house. 15The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi daughter of Zur; he was the tribal head of an ancestral house in Midian.
16The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17“Assail the Midianites and defeat them—18for they assailed you by the trickery they practiced against you— because of the affair of Peor and because of the affair of their kinswoman Cozbi, daughter of the Midianite chieftain, who was killed at the time of the plague on account of Peor.”
26 19When the plague was over, 1the LORD said to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, 2“Take a census of the whole Israelite community from the age of twenty years up, by their ancestral houses, all Israelites able to bear arms.” 3 aSo Moses and Eleazar the priest, on the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho, gave instructions about them, namely, 4those from twenty years up, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
The descendants of the Israelites who came out of the land of Egypt were:
5Reuben, Israel’s first-born. Descendants of Reuben: [Of] Enoch,b the clan of the Enochites; of Pallu, the clan of the Palluites; 6of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the clan of the Carmites. 7Those are the clans of the Reubenites. The persons enrolled came to 43,730.
8 c-Born to-c Pallu: Eliab. 9The sons of Eliab were Nemuel, and Dathan and Abiram. These are the same Dathan and Abiram, chosen in the assembly, who agitated against Moses and Aaron as part of Korah’s band when they agitated against the LORD. 10Whereupon the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with Korah—when that band died, when the fire consumed the two hundred and fifty men—and they became an example. 11The sons of Korah, however, did not die.
12Descendants of Simeon by their clans: Of Nemuel, the clan of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the clan of the Jaminites; of Jachin, the clan of the Jachinites; 13of Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites; of Saul,d the clan of the Saulites. 14Those are the clans of the Simeonites; [persons enrolled:] 22,200.
15Descendants of Gad by their clans: Of Zephon, the clan of the Zephonites; of Haggi, the clan of the Haggites; of Shuni, the clan of the Shunites; 16of Ozni, the clan of the Oznites; of Eri, the clan of the Erites; 17of Arod, the clan of the Arodites; of Areli, the clan of the Arelites. 18Those are the clans of Gad’s descendants; persons enrolled: 40,500.
19 c-Born to-c Judah: Er and Onan. Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.
20Descendants of Judah by their clans: Of Shelah, the clan of the Shelanites; of Perez, the clan of the Perezites; of Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites. 21Descendants of Perez: of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Hamul, the clan of the Hamulites. 22Those are the clans of Judah; persons enrolled: 76,500.
23Descendants of Issachar by their clans: [Of] Tola, the clan of the Tolaites; of Puvah, the clan of the Punites; 24of Jashub, the clan of the Jashubites; of Shimron, the clan of the Shimronites. 25Those are the clans of Issachar; persons enrolled: 64,300.
26Descendants of Zebulun by their clans: Of Sered, the clan of the Seredites; of Elon, the clan of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the clan of the Jahleelites. 27Those are the
