Numbers 23

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

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.

¹³Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.

²¹They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And the king commanded the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.

⁸The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.

³²On the seventh day you are to present seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished,

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

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.

¹⁵Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I meet the Lord over there.”

²⁰Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.

¹Then the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying,

¹³Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

²“Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

³¹Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. And Balaam bowed low and fell facedown.

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.

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

¹²I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’

⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.

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.”

²⁷Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith.

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

⁹Then the Lord reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.

¹⁸I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.

¹⁶I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

²¹“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit will not depart from you, and My words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and grandchildren, from now on and forevermore,” says the Lord.

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

⁹A man’s heart plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

³and he lifted up an oracle, saying: “This is the prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of a man whose eyes are open,

⁵he sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates in the land of his people. “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt,” said Balak. “They cover the face of the land and have settled next to me.

⁶So please come now and put a curse on this people, because they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land; for I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed.”

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.

¹⁸Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Arise, O Balak, and listen; give ear to me, O son of Zippor.

¹And Job continued his discourse:

²I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,

²³For there is no spell against Jacob and no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What great things God has done!’

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

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

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

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!

¹³You are wearied by your many counselors; let them come forward now and save you—your astrologers who observe the stars, who monthly predict your fate.

²⁸So Israel dwells securely; the fountain of Jacob lives untroubled in a land of grain and new wine, where even the heavens drip with dew.

⁸When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.

¹⁶For how then can it be known that Your people and I have found favor in Your sight, unless You go with us? How else will we be distinguished from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

⁸Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.

²Indeed, the Israelites have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the people of the land. And the leaders and officials have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness!”

¹⁴He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

¹⁶I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.

³⁷Consider the blameless and observe the upright, for posterity awaits the man of peace.

¹⁵Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

¹³And I heard a voice from heaven telling me to write, “Blessed are the dead—those who die in the Lord from this moment on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them.”

¹For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

⁶For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.

⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

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).

¹⁰Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together and said to Balaam, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have persisted in blessing them these three times.

¹⁷The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.

¹⁸The cursing that he wore like a coat, may it soak into his body like water, and into his bones like oil.

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?

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

¹¹‘Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and they cover the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps I may be able to fight against them and drive them away.’”

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.”

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

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.

²⁵When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart.

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

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.”

¹⁷The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.

⁹With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.

¹⁰Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, this should not be!

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,

²⁸Then the man of God approached the king of Israel and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because the Arameans have said that the Lord is a god of the hills and not of the valleys, I will deliver all this great army into your hand. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

⁴¹The next morning, Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal. From there he could see the outskirts of the camp of the people.

²³Meanwhile, the servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. That is why they prevailed over us. Instead, we should fight them on the plains; surely then we will prevail.

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

¹¹“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

²⁷Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west and north and south and east. See the land with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.

⁴⁹including all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan and as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the slopes of Pisgah.

¹¹Is there iniquity in Gilead? They will surely come to nothing. Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Indeed, their altars will be heaps of stones in the furrows of the field.

⁶They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.

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,

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,

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.

⁵Then the Lord put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and give him this message.”

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.

¹And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not seek omens as on previous occasions, but he turned his face toward the wilderness.

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

¹⁷Later, King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and received him in his palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there a word from the Lord?” “There is,” Jeremiah replied. “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”

¹⁷“What was the message He gave you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God punish you, and ever so severely, if you hide from me anything He said to you.”

²⁰Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in the coolness of his upper room. “I have a word from God for you,” Ehud said, and the king rose from his seat.

²⁹Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.”

¹⁷Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.

⁶“Because I, the Lord, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.

¹⁸Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.

²in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

³³Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

²⁷My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.

²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.

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

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.

¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

¹³Even from eternity I am He, and none can deliver out of My hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”

³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,

³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

²³“Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”).

²⁰In those days and at that time, declares the Lord, a search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for Judah’s sins, but they will not be found; for I will forgive the remnant I preserve.

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

⁸Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

⁴⁵Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.

⁴⁶And they will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.

¹⁷Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

⁸God brought him out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox, to devour hostile nations and crush their bones, to pierce them with arrows.

¹⁷His majesty is like a firstborn bull, and his horns are like those of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even to the ends of the earth. Such are the myriads of Ephraim, and such are the thousands of Manasseh.”

⁹Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he stay by your manger at night?

¹⁰Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he plow the valleys behind you?

²“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

²¹Save me from the mouth of the lion; at the horns of the wild oxen You have answered me!

³⁵O God, You are awesome in Your sanctuary; the God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to His people. Blessed be God!

¹⁸So He told them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

¹⁹Behold, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.

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

¹And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not seek omens as on previous occasions, but he turned his face toward the wilderness.

⁴For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery. I sent Moses before you, as well as Aaron and Miriam.

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.’”

²⁰The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

⁹Then all mankind will fear and proclaim the work of God; so they will ponder what He has done.

²⁷Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.”

⁹Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?

⁵Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

⁸God brought him out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox, to devour hostile nations and crush their bones, to pierce them with arrows.

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.”

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.

⁶On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among the sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and on the left, while the people of Jerusalem remain secure there.

¹Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

²The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the Lord and against His Anointed One:

²⁹But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.

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.

¹⁹But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God.

²⁰For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

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.”

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

¹²Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not already tell the messengers you sent me

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.

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

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.”

³⁰There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the Lord.

¹⁰I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’

¹¹I summon a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far-off land. Truly I have spoken, and truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, and I will surely do it.

²⁷The Lord of Hosts has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is outstretched, so who can turn it back?

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

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

²⁸They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.

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

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