Balak ~BaMidbar / Numbers 22:2-25:9

(2) Go proclaim to Jerusalem: Thus said GOD: I remember the devotion of your youth, Your love as a bride—How you followed Me in the wilderness, In a land not sown.

(2) Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. (3) Moab was alarmed because that people was so numerous. Moab dreaded the Israelites, (4) and Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this horde will lick clean all that is about us as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, (5) sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor in Pethor, which is by the Euphrates, in the land of his kinsfolk, to invite him, saying, “There is a people that came out of Egypt; it hides the earth from view, and it is settled next to me.(6) Come then, put a curse upon this people for me, since they are too numerous for me; perhaps I can thus defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whomever you bless is blessed indeed, and whomever you curse is cursed.”(7) The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian, versed in divination, set out. They came to Balaam and gave him Balak’s message.

(2)You alone have I singled out Of all the families of the earth—That is why I will call you to account For all your iniquities.

(8) He said to them, “Spend the night here, and I shall reply to you as יהוה may instruct me.” So the Moabite dignitaries stayed with Balaam. (9) God came to Balaam and said, “What do these men want of you?” (10) Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: (11) Here is a people that came out from Egypt and hides the earth from view. Come now and curse them for me; perhaps I can engage them in battle and drive them off.” (12) But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not curse that people, for they are blessed.” (13) Balaam arose in the morning and said to Balak’s dignitaries, “Go back to your own country, for יהוה will not let me go with you.” (14) The Moabite dignitaries left, and they came to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

(15) Then Balak sent other dignitaries, more numerous and distinguished than the first. (16) They came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak son of Zippor: Please do not refuse to come to me. (17) I will reward you richly and I will do anything you ask of me. Only come and damn this people for me.” (18) Balaam replied to Balak’s officials, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, big or little, contrary to the command of my God יהוה. (19) So you, too, stay here overnight, and let me find out what else יהוה may say to me.” (20) That night God came to Balaam and said to him, “If the agents have come to invite you, you may go with them. But whatever I command you, that you shall do.”

(13) You must be wholehearted with your Godיהוה.

(21) When he arose in the morning, Balaam saddled his ass and departed with the Moabite dignitaries. (22) But God was incensed at his going; so a messenger of יהוה took a position in his way as an adversary. He was riding on his she-ass, with his two servants alongside, (23) when the ass caught sight of the messenger of יהוה standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. The ass swerved from the road and went into the fields; and Balaam beat the ass to turn her back onto the road. (24) The messenger of יהוה then stationed himself in a lane between the vineyards, with a fence on either side. (25) The ass, seeing the messenger of יהוה, pressed herself against the wall and squeezed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he beat her again. (26) Once more the messenger of יהוה moved forward and stationed himself on a spot so narrow that there was no room to swerve right or left. (27) When the ass now saw the messenger of יהוה, she lay down under Balaam; and Balaam was furious and beat the ass with his stick. (28) Then יהוה opened the ass’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?”

(1) Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here and have seven bulls and seven rams ready here for me.” (2) Balak did as Balaam directed; and Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. (3) Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offerings while I am gone. Perhaps יהוה will grant me a manifestation, and whatever is revealed to me I will tell you.” And he went off alone. (4) God became manifest to Balaam, who stated, “I have set up the seven altars and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.” (5) And יהוה put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and speak thus.” (6) So he returned to him and found him standing beside his offerings, and all the Moabite dignitaries with him. (7) He took up his theme, and said: From Aram has Balak brought me, Moab’s king from the hills of the East: Come, curse me Jacob, Come, tell Israel’s doom! (8) How can I damn whom God has not damned, How doom when יהוה has not doomed?

(9) As I see them from the mountain tops, Gaze on them from the heights, There is a people that dwells apart, Not reckoned among the nations, (10) Who can count the dust of Jacob, Number the dust-cloud of Israel? May I die the death of the upright, May my fate be like theirs!

(21) No harm is in sight for Jacob, No woe in view for Israel. Their God יהוה 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.

(5)How fair are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel! (6) Like palm-groves that stretch out, Like gardens beside a river, Like aloes planted by יהוה, Like cedars beside the water; (7) Their boughs drip with moisture, Their roots have abundant water. Their ruler shall rise above Agag, Their sovereignty shall be exalted. (8) God who freed them from Egypt Is for them like the horns of the wild ox. They shall devour enemy nations, Crush their bones, And smash their arrows. (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!

(10) Enraged at Balaam, Balak struck his hands together. “I called you,” Balak said to Balaam, “to damn my enemies, and instead you have blessed them these three times!

(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 Gilgal— And you will recognize GOD’s gracious acts.”

(6) Let me be a seal upon your heart, Like the seal upon your hand. For love is fierce as death, Passion is mighty as Sheol; Its darts are darts of fire, A blazing flame.