Num 24-25, Num 31 | ESV | STEP | When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel , he did not go , as at other times , to look for omens , but set his face toward the wilderness .

Numbers 24

Balaam’s Third Oracle

1 When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go, as at ^aother times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness. 2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel ^bcamping tribe by tribe. And ^cthe Spirit of God came upon him, 3 and he ^dtook up his discourse and said,

“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is opened, ^{▼▼Or closed, or perfect; also verse 15}
4 the oracle of him who hears the words of God,
who sees the vision of the Almighty,
^ffalling down with his eyes uncovered:
5 How lovely are your tents, O Jacob,
your encampments, O Israel!
6 Like palm groves ^{▼▼Or valleys} that stretch afar,
like gardens beside a river,
^hlike aloes ⁱthat the Lord has planted,
like cedar trees beside the waters.
7 Water shall flow from his buckets,
and his seed shall be ^jin many waters;
his king shall be higher than ^kAgag,
and ^lhis kingdom shall be exalted.
8 God brings him out of Egypt
and is for him like the ^mhorns of the wild ox;
he shall ⁿeat up the nations, his adversaries,
and shall ^obreak their bones in pieces
and ^ppierce them through with his arrows.
9 He crouched, he lay down like a lion
and ^qlike a lioness; who will rouse him up?
^rBlessed are those who bless you,
and cursed are those who curse you.”
10 And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he ^sstruck his hands together. And Balak said to Balaam, ^t“I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times. 11 Therefore now flee to your own place. I said, ^u‘I will certainly honor you,’ but the Lord has held you back from honor.” 12 And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, 13 ^v‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad ^wof my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak’? 14 And now, behold, I am going to my people. Come, ^xI will let you know what this people will do to your people ^yin the latter days.”

Balaam’s Final Oracle

15 ^zAnd he took up his discourse and said,

“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,
16 the oracle of him who hears the words of God,
and knows the knowledge of ^aathe Most High,
who sees the vision of the Almighty,
^abfalling down with his eyes uncovered:
17 ^acI see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near:
^ada star shall come out of Jacob,
and ^aea scepter shall rise out of Israel;
it shall ^afcrush the forehead ^{▼▼Hebrew corners [of the head]} of Moab
and break down all the sons of Sheth.
18 ^ahEdom shall be dispossessed;
^aiSeir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed.
Israel is doing valiantly.
19 And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion
and destroy the survivors of cities!”
20 Then he looked on Amalek and ^ajtook up his discourse and said,

“Amalek was the first among the nations,
^akbut its end is utter destruction.”
21 And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his discourse and said,

“Enduring is your dwelling place,
and your nest is set in the rock.
22 Nevertheless, Kain shall be burned
when Asshur takes you away captive.”
23 And he took up his discourse and said,

“Alas, who shall live when God does this?
24 But ships shall come from ^alKittim
and shall afflict Asshur and ^amEber;
and he too ^anshall come to utter destruction.”
25 Then Balaam rose and ^aowent back to his place. And Balak also went his way.

Numbers 25

Baal Worship at Peor

1 While Israel lived in ^apShittim, ^aqthe people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. 2 ^arThese invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. 4 And the Lord said to Moses, ^as“Take all the chiefs of the people and ^athang ^{▼▼Or impale} them in the sun before the Lord, ^avthat the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.” 5 And Moses said to ^awthe judges of Israel, ^ax“Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.”

6 And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were ^ayweeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. 7 ^azWhen Phinehas ^bathe son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand 8 and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. 9 Nevertheless, ^bbthose who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

The Zeal of Phinehas

10 And the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he ^bcwas jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in ^bdmy jealousy. 12 Therefore say, ^be‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, 13 and it shall be to him and to ^bfhis descendants after him the covenant of ^bga perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’”

14 The name of the slain man of Israel, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, chief of a father’s house belonging to the Simeonites. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of ^bhZur, who was the tribal head of a father’s house in Midian.

16 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 ^bi“Harass the Midianites and strike them down, 18 for they have harassed you with their ^bjwiles, with which they beguiled you in the matter of ^bkPeor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the chief of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague on account of Peor.”

Numbers 31

Vengeance on Midian

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 ^bl“Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall ^bmbe gathered to your people.” 3 So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian. 4 You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.” 5 So there were provided, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand ^bnarmed for war. 6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and ^bothe trumpets for the alarm in his hand. 7 They warred against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and ^bpkilled every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, ^bqEvi, Rekem, ^brZur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. And they also killed ^bsBalaam the son of Beor with the sword. 9 And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and they took as plunder all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. 10 All their cities in the places where they lived, and all their ^btencampments, they burned with fire, 11 ^buand took all the spoil and all the plunder, both of man and of beast. 12 Then they brought the captives and the plunder and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the people of Israel, at the camp on ^bvthe plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

13 Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the chiefs of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp. 14 And Moses was angry with ^bwthe officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. 15 Moses said to them, “Have you ^bxlet all the women live? 16 Behold, ^bythese, ^bzon Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of ^caPeor, and so ^cbthe plague came among the congregation of the Lord. 17 Now therefore, ^cckill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. 18 But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him ^cdkeep alive for yourselves. 19 ^ceEncamp outside the camp seven days. Whoever of you has killed any person and ^cfwhoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. 20 You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.”

21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men in the army who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded Moses: 22 only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23 everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified ^cgwith the water for impurity. And whatever cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water. 24 You must ^chwash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean. And afterward you may come into the camp.”

25 The Lord said to Moses, 26 “Take the count of the plunder that was taken, both of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the congregation, 27 and ^cidivide the plunder into two parts between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. 28 And levy for the Lord a tribute from the men of war who went out to battle, ^cjone out of five hundred, of the people and of the oxen and of the donkeys and of the flocks. 29 Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to the Lord. 30 And from the people of Israel’s half you shall take ^ckone drawn out of every fifty, of the people, of the oxen, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, of all the cattle, and give them to the Levites ^clwho keep guard over the tabernacle of the Lord.” 31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

32 Now the plunder remaining of the spoil that the army took was 675,000 sheep, 33 72,000 cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys, 35 and 32,000 persons in all, women who had not known man by lying with him. 36 And the half, the portion of those who had gone out in the army, numbered 337,500 sheep, 37 and ^cmthe Lord’s tribute of sheep was 675. 38 The cattle were 36,000, of which the Lord’s tribute was 72. 39 The donkeys were 30,500, of which the Lord’s tribute was 61. 40 The persons were 16,000, of which the Lord’s tribute was 32 persons. 41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was the contribution for the Lord, to Eleazar the priest, ^cnas the Lord commanded Moses.

42 From the people of Israel’s half, which Moses separated from that of the men who had served in the army— 43 now the congregation’s half was 337,500 sheep, 44 36,000 cattle, 45 and 30,500 donkeys, 46 and 16,000 persons— 47 ^cofrom the people of Israel’s half Moses took one of every 50, both of persons and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites who kept guard over the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

48 Then ^cpthe officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came near to Moses 49 and said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command, and there is not a man missing from us. 50 And we have brought the Lord’s offering, what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and beads, ^cqto make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” 51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them the gold, all crafted articles. 52 And all the gold of the contribution that they presented to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels. ^{▼▼A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams} 53 ^cs(The men in the army had each taken plunder for himself.) 54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, ^ctas a memorial for the people of Israel before the Lord.