Numbers 22

⁴⁸They set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.

⁴⁹And there on the plains of Moab they camped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth to Abel-shittim.

¹⁹Yet we will not have an inheritance with them across the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan.”

¹⁶the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.

¹Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which faces Jericho. And the Lord showed him the whole land—from Gilead as far as Dan,

⁸The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.

²⁵Are you now so much better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them?

²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.

²¹Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,

³And the Lord heard Israel’s plea and delivered up the Canaanites. Israel devoted them and their cities to destruction; so they named the place Hormah.

¹⁵Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; those who dwell in Canaan will melt away,

⁵When the report reaches Egypt, they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre.

²⁴The Gibeonites answered, “Your servants were told clearly that the Lord your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land and wipe out all its inhabitants before you. So we greatly feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we have done this.

¹⁰For we have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites across the Jordan, whom you devoted to destruction.

¹¹When we heard this, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.

²⁵This very day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon all the nations under heaven. They will hear the reports of you and tremble in anguish because of you.”

²⁴“The Lord has surely delivered the entire land into our hands,” they said to Joshua. “Indeed, all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of us.”

¹⁵And the name of the slain Midianite woman was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.

¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses,

⁸Among the slain were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

³⁸On all the rooftops of Moab and in the public squares, everyone is mourning; for I have shattered Moab like an unwanted jar,” declares the Lord.

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

²¹all the cities of the plateau and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon until Moses killed him and the chiefs of Midian (Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba), the princes of Sihon who lived in the land.

²²The Israelites also killed the diviner Balaam son of Beor along with the others they put to the sword.

¹⁷I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth.

⁴For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.

⁵My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may acknowledge the righteousness of the Lord.’”

⁹Then Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you,

¹¹Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed for profit into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

⁷And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!’

²²The Israelites also killed the diviner Balaam son of Beor along with the others they put to the sword.

⁹He crouches, he lies down like a lion, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you.”

⁷And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!’

⁸How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?

¹³Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah instructed him, “Behold now, with one accord the words of the prophets are favorable to the king. So please let your words be like theirs, and speak favorably.”

⁴³“Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

³I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

²because they had not met the Israelites with food and water, but had hired Balaam to call down a curse against them (although our God had turned the curse into a blessing).

¹¹Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the Lord, saying, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster can come upon us.”

⁷“If we do go,” Saul replied, “what can we give the man? For the bread in our packs is gone, and there is no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?”

⁸The servant answered him again. “Look,” he said, “I have here in my hand a quarter shekel of silver. I will give it to the man of God, and he will tell us our way.”

¹⁵They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

¹¹Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain:

⁹Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

¹⁰For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

¹⁸For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

¹²But Balaam replied, “Should I not speak exactly what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

¹⁹So now, please stay here overnight as the others did, that I may find out what else the Lord has to tell me.”

²⁰That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, get up and go with them, but you must only do what I tell you.”

²You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.

⁶He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream.

³¹So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain.

³One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”

²⁰That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, get up and go with them, but you must only do what I tell you.”

⁹But the Lord God called out to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰“I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

³¹While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “It is decreed to you, King Nebuchadnezzar, that the kingdom has departed from you.

³²You will be driven away from mankind to live with the beasts of the field, and you will feed on grass like an ox. And seven times will pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.”

²And the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.

⁸“Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.

⁵Yet the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, and the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.

²⁹For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.

¹⁹God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

²⁰I have indeed received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it.

²I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

⁶And David speaks likewise of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁷“Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

¹⁴And the princes of Moab arose, returned to Balak, and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

⁵Yet the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, and the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you.

¹³So Balaam got up the next morning and said to Balak’s princes, “Go back to your homeland, because the Lord has refused to let me go with you.”

³⁷And he said to Balaam, “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why did you not come to me? Am I really not able to reward you richly?”

⁷When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among his attendants.

⁸He explained what had happened and sent them to Joppa.

⁷The elders of Moab and Midian departed with the fees for divination in hand. They came to Balaam and relayed to him the words of Balak.

⁸“Spend the night here,” Balaam replied, “and I will give you the answer that the Lord speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

¹¹Therefore, flee at once to your home! I said I would reward you richly, but instead the Lord has denied your reward.”

⁸Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

⁹“All this I will give You,” he said, “if You will fall down and worship me.”

²So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

³“Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone,” Balaam said to Balak. “Perhaps the Lord will meet with me. And whatever He reveals to me, I will tell you.” So Balaam went off to a barren height,

⁹Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.” “Hang him on it!” declared the king.

⁹You are to count off seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain.

⁷so much that he promised with an oath to give to her whatever she asked.

¹³that even if Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord? I must speak whatever the Lord says.

¹³But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I will speak whatever my God tells me.”

¹⁴But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I will speak whatever the Lord tells me.”

²⁶But Balaam replied, “Did I not tell you that whatever the Lord says, I must do?”

³⁸“See, I have come to you,” Balaam replied, “but can I say just anything? I must speak only the word that God puts in my mouth.”

¹⁷In response, Daniel said to the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the inscription for the king and interpret it for him.

¹¹Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed for profit into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

¹⁵They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

³In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.

⁹Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

¹⁰For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

⁷The elders of Moab and Midian departed with the fees for divination in hand. They came to Balaam and relayed to him the words of Balak.

⁸“Spend the night here,” Balaam replied, “and I will give you the answer that the Lord speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

¹³that even if Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord? I must speak whatever the Lord says.

²⁶But Balaam replied, “Did I not tell you that whatever the Lord says, I must do?”

¹²But Balaam replied, “Should I not speak exactly what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

³⁵But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you are to speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

⁹The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,

¹⁰and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.

¹²So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

¹⁵my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path.

¹⁶For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.

⁴He has bent His bow like an enemy; His right hand is positioned. Like a foe He has killed all who were pleasing to the eye; He has poured out His wrath like fire on the tent of the Daughter of Zion.

³²The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you, because your way is perverse before me.

²⁴Now at a lodging place along the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him.

²⁰Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.

⁴Yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor; he found Him at Bethel and spoke with Him there—

⁵the Lord God of Hosts, the Lord is His name of renown.

³⁵But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you are to speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

¹¹Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed for profit into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

¹⁶But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

²⁷But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

²⁸He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,

⁷Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons. The turtledove, the swift, and the thrush keep their time of migration, but My people do not know the requirements of the Lord.

⁹My companions saw the light, but they could not understand the voice of the One speaking to me.

¹⁶When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.

¹³He catches the wise in their craftiness, and sweeps away the plans of the cunning.

¹⁴They encounter darkness by day and grope at noon as in the night.

¹²So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror!

⁶Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way.

¹¹O Lord, Your hand is upraised, but they do not see it. They will see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame. The fire set for Your enemies will consume them!

¹⁶A wise man fears and turns from evil, but a fool is careless and reckless.

¹⁹My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,

³A stone is heavy and sand is a burden, but aggravation from a fool outweighs them both.

⁴Wrath is cruel and anger is like a flood, but who can withstand jealousy?

¹⁶But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

³⁷For no word from God will ever fail.”

¹¹And the Lord said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

¹⁹For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.

¹⁰A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are only cruelty.

¹⁶A fool’s anger is known at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.

³This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and afterward they join the dead.

¹⁶But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

²⁷But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

²⁸He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,

¹⁹Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

³¹Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus—and He disappeared from their sight.

¹⁸to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’

¹⁶the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who bows down with eyes wide open:

⁴the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who bows down with eyes wide open:

¹⁶But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.

¹⁸He who walks with integrity will be kept safe, but whoever is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall.

²²Then God’s anger was kindled because Balaam was going along, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

¹⁰and said, “O child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery! Will you never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord?

²He who walks in uprightness fears the Lord, but the one who is devious in his ways despises Him.

⁶Better a poor man who walks with integrity than a rich man whose ways are perverse.

⁹The Lord is good to all; His compassion rests on all He has made.

³³They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.

³⁴At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, saying, “The earth may swallow us too!”

³⁷those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the Lord.

²⁴As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it.

²⁵And there were men passing by who saw the body lying in the road with the lion standing beside it, and they went and reported this in the city where the old prophet lived.

²⁴Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have transgressed the Lord’s commandment and your instructions, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

³¹Suppose someone says to God, ‘I have endured my punishment; I will offend no more.

³²Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do it again.’

¹³Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” “The Lord has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.

³⁰“I have sinned,” Saul replied. “Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.”

²¹Then Saul replied, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. I will never harm you again, because today you considered my life precious. I have played the fool and have committed a grave error!”

⁷This command was also evil in the sight of God; so He struck Israel.

⁹The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,

¹⁰and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.

²⁶Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.

²⁷Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.

¹²So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

²⁰That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, get up and go with them, but you must only do what I tell you.”

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

¹⁵The brothers there had heard about us and traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and gave thanks to God.

²⁰Moab is put to shame, for it has been shattered. Wail and cry out! Declare by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.

²Like fluttering birds pushed out of the nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon:

²⁴“Arise, set out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have delivered into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle.

²And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

⁸At that time we took from the two kings of the Amorites the land across the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Hermon—

¹¹Therefore, flee at once to your home! I said I would reward you richly, but instead the Lord has denied your reward.”

⁴⁴How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

⁸Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

⁹“All this I will give You,” he said, “if You will fall down and worship me.”

⁶For exaltation comes neither from east nor west, nor out of the desert,

⁶“I will give You authority over all these kingdoms and all their glory,” he said. “For it has been relinquished to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish.

¹⁶They came to Balaam and said, “This is what Balak son of Zippor says: ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me,

¹⁷for I will honor you richly and do whatever you say. So please come and put a curse on this people for me!’”

¹⁸But Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, “If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything small or great to go beyond the command of the Lord my God.

²¹Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the Lord will prevail.

²⁶But Balaam replied, “Did I not tell you that whatever the Lord says, I must do?”

¹⁶And the Lord met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak what I tell you.”

¹⁴But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I will speak whatever the Lord tells me.”

²⁵who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,

¹⁴So Balak took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁶For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.

⁵⁴Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.

³⁰So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

²So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹³Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the outskirts of their camp—not all of them. And from there, curse them for me.”

²who also invited them to the sacrifices for their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to these gods.

³So Israel joined in worshiping Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord burned against them.

²⁸For a fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the rulers of Arnon’s heights.

²Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

³⁵In Moab, declares the Lord, I will bring an end to those who make offerings on the high places and burn incense to their gods.

¹⁵And Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat demons and calf idols he had made.