Numbers 24

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!’

¹⁴But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.

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

²⁸And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.

¹⁶“Look, these women caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to turn unfaithfully against the Lord at Peor, so that the plague struck the congregation of the Lord.

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

²⁰he sent messengers to seize him. But when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel leading them, the Spirit of God came upon them, and Saul’s messengers also began to prophesy.

¹Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded.

¹⁰When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a group of prophets met him. Then the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied along with them.

²³So Saul went to Naioth in Ramah. But the Spirit of God came upon even Saul, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

²“The Israelites are to camp around the Tent of Meeting at a distance from it, each man under his standard, with the banners of his family.

³On the east side, toward the sunrise, the divisions of Judah are to camp under their standard: The leader of the Judahites is Nahshon son of Amminadab,

²⁵Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and He took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and placed that Spirit on the seventy elders. As the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but they never did so again.

²⁶Two men, however, had remained in the camp—one named Eldad and the other Medad—and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those listed, but they had not gone out to the tent, and they prophesied in the camp.

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!’

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:

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

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

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.

¹⁷When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,

¹⁰On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,

¹I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to gain, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.

²I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows.

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.

²⁸The appearance of the brilliant light all around Him was like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking.

¹⁵While he was speaking these words to me, I set my face toward the ground and became speechless.

¹⁶And suddenly one with the likeness of a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and said to the one standing before me, “My lord, because of the vision, I am overcome with anguish, and I have no strength.

³He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.

¹¹The Lord will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

¹⁶The trees of the Lord have their fill, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted,

¹¹I went down to the walnut grove to see the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines were budding or the pomegranates were in bloom.

⁸All your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces of ivory the harps make you glad.

¹²The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

¹³Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.

¹²And David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.

²And David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had highly exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.

¹³You who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut.

¹Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.

¹⁶And He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh: KING OF KINGS AND Lord OF LORDS.

⁸He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, but devoted all the others to destruction with the sword.

⁹Saul and his troops spared Agag, along with the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, and the best of everything else. They were unwilling to devote them to destruction, but they devoted to destruction all that was despised and worthless.

⁵Your arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s foes; the nations fall beneath your feet.

⁹You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery.”

²²God brought them out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox.

⁹Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them!”

²⁴Behold, the people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion, not resting until they devour their prey and drink the blood of the slain.”

¹⁷Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

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.”

²⁹May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.”

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?

²⁴Behold, the people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion, not resting until they devour their prey and drink the blood of the slain.”

⁴⁵Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’

³⁹Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?

¹⁴‘So then, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together. Let the sword strike two times, even three. It is a sword that slays, a sword of great slaughter closing in on every side!

¹¹Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and behold, you have only blessed them!”

¹⁷I too will strike My hands together, and I will satisfy My wrath.’ I, the Lord, have spoken.”

¹³Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst.

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).

²³It claps its hands at him and hisses him out of his place.

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

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?”

²⁰But Peter replied, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!

⁸More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ

²Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;

³not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

⁸Watch yourselves, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be fully rewarded.

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.

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.”

²⁸Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things, for it was not my own doing:

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.”

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.

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.’”

¹Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come:

¹⁴But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.

²⁸But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions that came into your mind as you lay on your bed were these:

¹But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come.

¹⁰Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

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,

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

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!’

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

¹Job continued his discourse:

³⁵So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”

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

²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

¹Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

¹These are the last words of David: “The oracle of David son of Jesse, the oracle of the man raised on high, the one anointed by the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel:

²The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; His word was on my tongue.

¹⁶“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star.”

³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,

³³and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!”

¹⁰The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.

⁷Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him—even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.

¹⁵Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”

⁴The cornerstone will come from Judah, the tent peg from him, as well as the battle bow and every ruler together.

¹²that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear My name,” declares the Lord, who will do this.

¹⁴He placed garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites were subject to David. So the Lord made David victorious wherever he went.

²⁹May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.”

¹Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah with crimson-stained garments? Who is this robed in splendor, marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I, proclaiming vindication, mighty to save.”

⁸Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom I toss My sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

⁹Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

⁵When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, then it will come down upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.

¹⁰The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.

¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

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:

²But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel—One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity.

¹⁶And He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh: KING OF KINGS AND Lord OF LORDS.

⁴He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord His God. And they will dwell securely, for then His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth.

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

⁸After this, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.

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.

¹⁰So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

¹⁴So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.

¹On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.

¹After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were with him.

¹⁹the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,

¹⁸So I thought: ‘I will die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand.

¹⁶Now the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Judah in the Negev near Arad. They went to live among the people.

⁸Even Assyria has joined them, lending strength to the sons of Lot. Selah

¹¹From that land he went forth into Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,

²²The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

²they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the families, saying, “Let us build with you because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to Him since the time of King Esar-haddon of Assyria, who brought us here.”

³Assyria will not save us, nor will we ride on horses. We will never again say, ‘Our gods!’ to the work of our own hands. For in You the fatherless find compassion.”

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!’

²But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.

¹Now Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly regarded, for through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. And he was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

⁴And the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites, and the Rodanites.

³⁰Ships of Kittim will come against him, and he will lose heart. Then he will turn back and rage against the holy covenant and do damage. So he will return and show favor to those who forsake the holy covenant.

²⁰Then Balaam saw Amalek and lifted up an oracle, saying: “Amalek was first among the nations, but his end is destruction.”

²¹And sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth; Shem was the forefather of all the sons of Eber.

²²The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

²⁰“Do you know why I have come to you?” he said. “I must return at once to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I have gone forth, behold, the prince of Greece will come.

²¹The shaggy goat represents the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king.

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.

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

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