בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳ אֱלקֵינוּ מֶלֶך–הָעולָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְותָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסק בְּדִבְרֵי-תורָה.
Blessing Over the Study of Torah
Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu laasok b’divrei Torah.
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe, who sanctifies us with mitzvot, commanding us to engage with words of Torah.
(ה) עַמִּ֗י זְכׇר־נָא֙ מַה־יָּעַ֗ץ בָּלָק֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ מוֹאָ֔ב וּמֶה־עָנָ֥ה אֹת֖וֹ בִּלְעָ֣ם בֶּן־בְּע֑וֹר מִן־הַשִּׁטִּים֙ עַד־הַגִּלְגָּ֔ל לְמַ֕עַן דַּ֖עַת צִדְק֥וֹת ה׳׃
(5) “My people, Remember what Balak king of Moab plotted against you, and how Balaam son of Beor responded to him.
[Recall your passage] from Shittim to Gilgalb and you will recognize GOD’s gracious acts.”
(11) Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? Here I brought you to damn my enemies, and instead you have blessed them!” (12) He replied, “I can only repeat faithfully what ה׳ puts in my mouth.” (13) Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place from which you can see them—you will see only a portion of them; you will not see all of them—and damn them for me from there.” (14) With that, he took him to Sedehzophim, on the summit of Pisgah. He built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. (15) And [Balaam] said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offerings, while I seek a manifestation yonder.” (16) ה׳ became manifest to Balaam and put a word in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak thus.” (17) He went to him and found him standing beside his offerings, and the Moabite dignitaries with him. Balak asked him, “What did ה׳ say?” (18) And he took up his theme, and said:
Up, Balak, attend,
Give ear unto me, son of Zippor!
(19) God is not human to be capricious,
Or mortal to have a change of heart.
Would [God] speak and not act,
Promise and not fulfill?
(20) My message was to bless:
When [God] blesses, I cannot reverse it.
(21) No harm is in sight for Jacob,
No woe in view for Israel.
Their God ה׳ is with them,
And their King’s acclaim in their midst.
(22) God who freed them from Egypt
Is for them like the horns of the wild ox.
(23) Lo, there is no augury in Jacob,
No divining in Israel:
Jacob is told at once,
Yea Israel, what God has planned.
(24) Lo, a people that rises like a lioness,
Leaps up like a lion,
Rests not till it has feasted on prey
And drunk the blood of the slain. (25) Thereupon Balak said to Balaam, “Don’t curse them and don’t bless them!” (26) In reply, Balaam said to Balak, “But I told you: Whatever ה׳ says, that I must do.”
Connecting the themes of Torah & Haftarah
(21) No harm is in sight for Jacob,
No woe in view for Israel.
Their God ה׳ is with them,
And their King’s acclaim in their midst.
In the midst of the many peoples,
Like dew from GOD,
Like droplets on grass—
Which do not look to anybody
Nor place their hope in mortals.
(9) They crouch, they lie down like a lion,
Like a lioness;who dares rouse them?
Blessed are they who bless you,
Accursed they who curse you!
(7) The remnant of Jacob
Shall be among the nations,
In the midst of the many peoples,
Like a lion among beasts of the wild,
Like a fierce lion among flocks of sheep,
Which tramples wherever it goes
And rends, with none to deliver.
(8) How can I damn whom God has not damned,
How doom when ה׳ has not doomed?
—declares GOD—
I will destroy the horses in your midst
And wreck your chariots.
(19) A victor issues from Jacob
To wipe out what is left of Ir. (20) He saw Amalek and, taking up his theme, he said:
A leading nation is Amalek;
But its fate is to perish forever. (21) He saw the Kenites and, taking up his theme, he said:
Though your abode be secure,
And your nest be set among cliffs,
(22) Yet shall Kainbe consumed,
When Asshur takes you captive. (23) He took up his theme and said:
Alas, who can survive except God has willed it!
(24) Ships come from the quarter of Kittim;
They subject Asshur, subject Eber.
They, too, shall perish forever.
(14) In anger and wrath
Will I wreak retribution
On the nations that have not obeyed.