Study Desk

"God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

"He has not observed misfortune in Jacob; Nor has He seen trouble in Israel; The LORD his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them.

"God brings them out of Egypt, He is for them like the horns of the wild ox.

"For there is no omen against Jacob, Nor is there any divination against Israel; At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob And to Israel, what God has done!

Then Balak said to Balaam, "Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be agreeable with God that you curse them for me from there."

And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him.

The oracle of him who hears the words of God, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered,

"God brings him out of Egypt, He is for him like the horns of the wild ox. He will devour the nations who are his adversaries, And will crush their bones in pieces, And shatter them with his arrows.

The oracle of him who hears the words of God, And knows the knowledge of the Most High, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered.

Then he took up his discourse and said, "Alas, who can live except God has ordained it?

and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.'"

"May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation,

"The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, 'You have stayed long enough at this mountain.

'The LORD your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number.

'May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand-fold more than you are and bless you, just as He has promised you!

"Then we set out from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the LORD our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.

"I said to you, 'You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which the LORD our God is about to give us.

'See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.'

"Then they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought us back a report and said, 'It is a good land which the LORD our God is about to give us.'

"Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God;