AND THE LORD MET BALAAM,
AND PUT A WORD IN HIS MOUTH,
AND SAID,
GO AGAIN UNTO BALAK,
AND SAY THUS.
And when he came to him,
behold,
he stood by his burnt offering,
and the princes of Moab with him.
And Balak said unto him,
What hath the LORD spoken?
And he took up his parable,
and said,
Rise up,
Balak,
and hear;
hearken unto me,
thou son of Zippor:
God is not a man,
that he should lie;
neither the son of man,
that he should repent:
hath he said,
and shall he not do it?
or hath he spoken,
and shall he not make it good?
Behold,
I have received commandment to bless:
and he hath blessed;
and I cannot reverse it.
He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob,
neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel:
the LORD his God is with him,
and the shout of a king is among them.
God brought them out of Egypt;
he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.
Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob,
neither is there any divination against Israel:
according to this time
it shall be said of Jacob
and of Israel,
What hath God wrought!
Behold,
the people shall rise up as a great lion,
and lift up himself as a young lion:
he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey,
and drink the blood of the slain.
And Balak said unto Balaam,
Neither curse them at all,
nor bless them at all.
But Balaam answered
and said unto Balak,
Told not I thee,
saying,
All that the LORD speaketh,
that I must do?
And Balak said unto Balaam,
Come,
I pray thee,
I will bring thee unto another place;
peradventure it will please God
that thou mayest curse me them from thence.
And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor,
that looketh toward Jeshimon.
And Balaam said unto Balak,
Build me here seven altars,
and prepare me here seven bullocks
and seven rams.
And Balak did as Balaam had said,
and offered a bullock
and a ram
on every altar.
And when Balaam saw
that it pleased the LORD
to bless Israel,
he went not,
as at other times,
to seek for enchantments,
but he set his face toward the wilderness.
And Balaam lifted up his eyes,
and he saw Israel abiding in his tents
according to their tribes;
and the spirit of God came upon him.
And he took up his parable,
and said,
Balaam the son of Beor hath said,
and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
He hath said,
which heard the words of God,
which saw the vision of the Almighty,
falling into a trance,
but having his eyes open:
How goodly are thy tents,
O Jacob,
and thy tabernacles,
O Israel!
As the valleys are they spread forth,
as gardens by the river’s side,
as the trees of lign aloes
which the LORD hath planted,
and as cedar trees
beside the waters.
He shall pour the water out of his buckets,
and his seed shall be in many waters,
and his king shall be higher than Agag,
and his kingdom shall be exalted.
God brought him forth out of Egypt;
he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn:
he shall eat up the nations his enemies,
and shall break their bones,
and pierce them through with his arrows.
He couched,
he lay down as a lion,
and as a great lion:
who shall stir him up?
Blessed is he that blesseth thee,
and cursed is he that curseth thee.
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.
Therefore now flee thou to thy place:
I thought to promote thee unto great honour;
but,
lo,
the LORD hath kept thee back from honour.
And Balaam said unto Balak,
Spake I not also to thy messengers
which thou sentest unto me,
saying,
If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold,
I cannot go beyond the commandment of the LORD,
to do either good
or bad
of mine own mind;
but what the LORD saith,
that will I speak?
And now,
behold,
I go unto my people:
come therefore,
and I will advertise thee
what this people shall do
to thy people
in the latter days.
And he took up his parable,
and said,
Balaam the son of Beor hath said,
and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
He hath said,
which heard the words of God,
and knew the knowledge of the most High,
which saw the vision of the Almighty,
falling into a trance,
but having his eyes open:
I shall see him,
but not now:
I shall behold him,
but not nigh:
there shall come a Star out of Jacob,
and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel,
and shall smite the corners of Moab,
and destroy all the children of Sheth.
And Edom shall be a possession,
Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies;
and Israel shall do valiantly.
Out of Jacob shall come
he that shall have dominion,
and
shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.
And when he looked on Amalek,
he took up his parable,
and said,
Amalek was the first of the nations;
but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever.
And he looked on the Kenites,
and took up his parable,
and said,
Strong is thy dwellingplace,
and thou puttest thy nest in a rock.
Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted,
until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
And he took up his parable,
and said,
Alas,
who shall live when God doeth this!
And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim,
and shall afflict Asshur,
and shall afflict Eber,
and he also shall perish for ever.
And Balaam rose up,
and went and returned to his place:
and Balak also went his way.
And Israel abode in Shittim,
and the people began to commit whoredom
with the daughters of Moab.
And they called the people
unto the sacrifices of their gods:
and the people did eat,
and bowed down to their gods.
And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor:
and the anger of the LORD was kindled
against Israel.
And the LORD said unto Moses,
Take all the heads of the people,
and hang them up before the LORD
against the sun,
that the fierce anger of the LORD
may be turned away from Israel.
And Moses said unto the judges of Israel,
Slay ye every one his men
that were joined unto Baalpeor.
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,
who were weeping before the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation.
And when Phinehas,
the son of Eleazar,
the son of Aaron the priest,
saw it,
he rose up from among the congregation,
and took a javelin in his hand;
And he went after the man of Israel
into the tent,
and thrust both of them through,
the man of Israel,
and the woman through her belly.
So the plague was stayed
from the children of Israel.
And those that died in the plague
were twenty and four thousand.
Numbers 23:16-25:9