Study Desk

Then he uttered his oracle, and said, "Stand up, Balak, and hear; listen to me, son of Zippor!

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of humankind, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? And has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

He has no regard for evil in Jacob, and he does not see trouble in Israel; Yahweh his God is with him, and a shout of a king is among them.

And Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel, and he did not go as other times to seek out sorcery; instead, he set his face toward the desert.

Balaam lift up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to its tribes, and the spirit of God was upon it.

He uttered his oracle and said, "The declaration of Balaam son Beor, the declaration of the man whose eyes are closed,

He will pour water from his buckets, and his offspring will be like many waters; his king will be higher than Agag, and his kingdom will be exalted.

God, who brings him out from Egypt, is like the strength of a wild ox for him. He will devour the nations who are his enemies; he will break their bones; he will pierce them with his arrows.

Then Balak became angry with Balaam, and he clapped his hands and said to Balaam, "I called you to curse my enemies, but look, you have surely blessed them these three times.

‘If Balak gave to me the fullness of his house full of silver and gold, I am not able to go beyond the command of Yahweh to do good or evil, from my heart; what Yahweh speaks, I will speak'?

And he uttered his oracle and said, "The declaration of Balaam son of Beor, and the declaration of the man whose eye is closed,

the declaration of the hearer of God's words, and the knower of the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of Shaddai, who is falling, and his eyes are revealed.

And he looked at Amalek, uttered his oracle, and said, "Amalek is first of the nations, but his future will be forever ruin."

And he looked at the Kenites, uttered his oracle, and said, "Steady is your dwelling place; in the rock is your nest.

Again he uttered his oracle and said, "Woe, who will live when God establishes this?

Then Balaam got up and went and returned to his place, and Balak also went on his way.

So Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you kill his men who are joined together with Baal Peor."

And behold, a man from the Israelites came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of all of the community of the Israelites, and they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of assembly.

When Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest saw, he got up from the midst of the community and took a spear in his hand.

and it will be for him and his offspring after him a covenant of an eternal priesthood because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.'"