Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹The LORD spoke to Moses:

²“Make two trumpets of hammered silver to summon the community and have the camps set out.

³When both are sounded in long blasts, the entire community is to gather before you at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

⁴However, if one is sounded, only the leaders, the heads of Israel’s clans, are to gather before you.

⁵“When you sound short blasts, the camps pitched on the east are to set out.

⁶When you sound short blasts a second time, the camps pitched on the south are to set out. Short blasts are to be sounded for them to set out.

⁷When calling the assembly together, you are to sound long blasts, not short ones.

⁸The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to sound the trumpets. Your use of these is a permanent statute throughout your generations.

⁹“When you enter into battle in your land against an adversary who is attacking you, sound short blasts on the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God and be saved from your enemies.

¹⁰You are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and your fellowship sacrifices and on your joyous occasions, your appointed festivals, and the beginning of each of your months. They will serve as a reminder for you before your God: I am the LORD your God.”

¹¹During the second year, in the second month on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was lifted up above the tabernacle of the testimony.

¹²The Israelites traveled on from the Wilderness of Sinai, moving from one place to the next until the cloud stopped in the Wilderness of Paran.

¹³They set out for the first time according to the LORD’s command through Moses.

¹⁴The military divisions of the camp of Judah’s descendants with their banner set out first, and Nahshon son of Amminadab was over their divisions.

¹⁵Nethanel son of Zuar was over the division of the tribe of Issachar’s descendants,

¹⁶and Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of Zebulun’s descendants.

¹⁷The tabernacle was then taken down, and the Gershonites and the Merarites set out, transporting the tabernacle.

¹⁸The military divisions of the camp of Reuben with their banner set out, and Elizur son of Shedeur was over their divisions.

¹⁹Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the division of the tribe of Simeon’s descendants,

²⁰and Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the division of the tribe of Gad’s descendants.

²¹The Kohathites then set out, transporting the holy objects; the tabernacle was to be set up before their arrival.

²²Next the military divisions of the camp of Ephraim’s descendants with their banner set out, and Elishama son of Ammihud was over their divisions.

²³Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of Manasseh’s descendants,

²⁴and Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of Benjamin’s descendants.

²⁵The military divisions of the camp of Dan’s descendants with their banner set out, serving as rear guard for all the camps, and Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was over their divisions.

²⁶Pagiel son of Ochran was over the division of the tribe of Asher’s descendants,

²⁷and Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of Naphtali’s descendants.

²⁸This was the order of march for the Israelites by their military divisions as they set out.

²⁹Moses said to Hobab, descendant of Reuel the Midianite and Moses’s relative by marriage: Reuel the Midianite: “We’re setting out for the place the LORD promised: ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised good things to Israel.”

³⁰But he replied to him, “I don’t want to go. Instead, I will go to my own land and my relatives.”

³¹“Please don’t leave us,” Moses said, “since you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can serve as our eyes.

³²If you come with us, whatever good the LORD does for us we will do for you.”

³³They set out from the mountain of the LORD on a three-day journey with the ark of the LORD’s covenant traveling ahead of them for those three days to seek a resting place for them.

³⁴Meanwhile, the cloud of the LORD was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

³⁵Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say: Arise, LORD! Let your enemies be scattered, and those who hate you flee from your presence.

³⁶When it came to rest, he would say: Return, LORD, to the countless thousands of Israel.

¹Now the people began complaining openly before the LORD about hardship. When the LORD heard, his anger burned, and fire from the LORD blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.

²Then the people cried out to Moses, and he prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down.

³So that place was named Taberah, because the LORD’s fire had blazed among them.

⁴The riffraff among them had a strong craving for other food. The Israelites wept again and said, “Who will feed us meat?

⁵We remember the free fish we ate in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.

⁶But now our appetite is gone; there’s nothing to look at but this manna!”

⁷The manna resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of bdellium.

⁸The people walked around and gathered it. They ground it on a pair of grinding stones or crushed it in a mortar, then boiled it in a cooking pot and shaped it into cakes. It tasted like a pastry cooked with the finest oil.

⁹When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.

¹⁰Moses heard the people, family after family, weeping at the entrance of their tents. The LORD was very angry; Moses was also provoked.

¹¹So Moses asked the LORD, “Why have you brought such trouble on your servant? Why are you angry with me, and why do you burden me with all these people?

¹²Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth so you should tell me, ‘Carry them at your breast, as a nanny carries a baby,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers?

¹³Where can I get meat to give all these people? For they are weeping to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’

¹⁴I can’t carry all these people by myself. They are too much for me.

¹⁵If you are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now if I have found favor with you, and don’t let me see my misery anymore.”

¹⁶The LORD answered Moses, “Bring me seventy men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you.

¹⁷Then I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.

¹⁸“Tell the people: Consecrate yourselves in readiness for tomorrow, and you will eat meat because you wept in the LORD’s hearing, ‘Who will feed us meat? We were better off in Egypt.’ The LORD will give you meat and you will eat.

¹⁹You will eat, not for one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days,

²⁰but for a whole month — until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes nauseating to you — because you have rejected the LORD who is among you, and wept before him: ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt? ’”

²¹But Moses replied, “I’m in the middle of a people with six hundred thousand foot soldiers, yet you say, ‘I will give them meat, and they will eat for a month.’

²²If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?”

²³The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm weak? Now you will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you.”

²⁴Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD. He brought seventy men from the elders of the people and had them stand around the tent.

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

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

²⁷A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

²⁸Joshua son of Nun, assistant to Moses since his youth, responded, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”

²⁹But Moses asked him, “Are you jealous on my account? If only all the LORD’s people were prophets and the LORD would place his Spirit on them!”

³⁰Then Moses returned to the camp along with the elders of Israel.

³¹A wind sent by the LORD came up and blew quail in from the sea; it dropped them all around the camp. They were flying three feet off the ground for about a day’s journey in every direction.

³²The people were up all that day and night and all the next day gathering the quail — the one who took the least gathered fifty bushels  — and they spread them out all around the camp.

³³While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the LORD’s anger burned against the people, and the LORD struck them with a very severe plague.

³⁴So they named that place Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved the meat.

³⁵From Kibroth-hattaavah the people moved on to Hazeroth and remained there.

¹Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he married (for he had married a Cushite woman).

²They said, “Does the LORD speak only through Moses? Does he not also speak through us?” And the LORD heard it.

³Moses was a very humble man, more so than anyone on the face of the earth.

⁴Suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went out.

⁵Then the LORD descended in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance to the tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them came forward,

⁶he said: “Listen to what I say: If there is a prophet among you from the LORD, I make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.

⁷Not so with my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my household.

⁸I speak with him directly, openly, and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. So why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

⁹The LORD’s anger burned against them, and he left.

¹⁰As the cloud moved away from the tent, Miriam’s skin suddenly became diseased, resembling snow. When Aaron turned toward her, he saw that she was diseased

¹¹and said to Moses, “My lord, please don’t hold against us this sin we have so foolishly committed.

¹²Please don’t let her be like a dead baby whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.”

¹³Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “God, please heal her!”

¹⁴The LORD answered Moses, “If her father had merely spit in her face, wouldn’t she remain in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; after that she may be brought back in.”

¹⁵So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was brought back in.

¹⁶After that, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses:

²“Send men to scout out the land of Canaan I am giving to the Israelites. Send one man who is a leader among them from each of their ancestral tribes.”

³Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran at the LORD’s command. All the men were leaders in Israel.

⁴These were their names: Shammua son of Zaccur from the tribe of Reuben;

⁵Shaphat son of Hori from the tribe of Simeon;

⁶Caleb son of Jephunneh from the tribe of Judah;

⁷Igal son of Joseph from the tribe of Issachar;

⁸Hoshea son of Nun from the tribe of Ephraim;

⁹Palti son of Raphu from the tribe of Benjamin;

¹⁰Gaddiel son of Sodi from the tribe of Zebulun;

¹¹Gaddi son of Susi from the tribe of Manasseh (from the tribe of Joseph);

¹²Ammiel son of Gemalli from the tribe of Dan;

¹³Sethur son of Michael from the tribe of Asher;

¹⁴Nahbi son of Vophsi from the tribe of Naphtali;

¹⁵Geuel son of Machi from the tribe of Gad.

¹⁶These were the names of the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and Moses renamed Hoshea son of Nun, Joshua.

¹⁷When Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up this way to the Negev, then go up into the hill country.

¹⁸See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.

¹⁹Is the land they live in good or bad? Are the cities they live in encampments or fortifications?

²⁰Is the land fertile or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous. Bring back some fruit from the land.” It was the season for the first ripe grapes.

²¹So they went up and scouted out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob near the entrance to Hamath.

²²They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were living. Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.

²³When they came to the Valley of Eshcol, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, which was carried on a pole by two men. They also took some pomegranates and figs.

²⁴That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut there.

²⁵At the end of forty days they returned from scouting out the land.

²⁶The men went back to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for them and the whole community, and they showed them the fruit of the land.

²⁷They reported to Moses: “We went into the land where you sent us. Indeed it is flowing with milk and honey, and here is some of its fruit.

²⁸However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified. We also saw the descendants of Anak there.

²⁹The Amalekites are living in the land of the Negev; the Hethites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”

³⁰Then Caleb quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, “Let’s go up now and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!”

³¹But the men who had gone up with him responded, “We can’t attack the people because they are stronger than we are!”

³²So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted: “The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size.

³³We even saw the Nephilim there — the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim! To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.”

¹Then the whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night.

²All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!

³Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to die by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

⁴So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole assembly of the Israelite community.

⁶Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who scouted out the land, tore their clothes

⁷and said to the entire Israelite community: “The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land.

⁸If the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and give it to us.

⁹Only don’t rebel against the LORD, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us. Don’t be afraid of them!”

¹⁰While the whole community threatened to stone them, the glory of the LORD appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting.

¹¹The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people despise me? How long will they not trust in me despite all the signs I have performed among them?

¹²I will strike them with a plague and destroy them. Then I will make you into a greater and mightier nation than they are.”

¹³But Moses replied to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear about it, for by your strength you brought up this people from them.

¹⁴They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, LORD, are among these people, how you, LORD, are seen face to face, how your cloud stands over them, and how you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

¹⁵If you kill this people with a single blow, the nations that have heard of your fame will declare,

¹⁶‘Since the LORD wasn’t able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them, he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

¹⁷“So now, may my Lord’s power be magnified just as you have spoken:

¹⁸The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love, forgiving iniquity and rebellion. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generation.

¹⁹Please pardon the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of your faithful love, just as you have forgiven them from Egypt until now.”

²⁰The LORD responded, “I have pardoned them as you requested.

²¹Yet as surely as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the LORD’s glory,

²²none of the men who have seen my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested me these ten times and did not obey me,

²³will ever see the land I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have despised me will see it.

²⁴But since my servant Caleb has a different spirit and has remained loyal to me, I will bring him into the land where he has gone, and his descendants will inherit it.

²⁵Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the lowlands, turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.”

²⁶Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron:

²⁷“How long must I endure this evil community that keeps complaining about me? I have heard the Israelites’ complaints that they make against me.

²⁸Tell them: As surely as I live — this is the LORD’s declaration — I will do to you exactly as I heard you say.

²⁹Your corpses will fall in this wilderness — all of you who were registered in the census, the entire number of you twenty years old or more  — because you have complained about me.

³⁰I swear that none of you will enter the land I promised to settle you in, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

³¹I will bring your children whom you said would become plunder into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it.

³²But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness.

³³Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years and bear the penalty for your acts of unfaithfulness until all your corpses lie scattered in the wilderness.

³⁴You will bear the consequences of your iniquities forty years based on the number of the forty days that you scouted the land, a year for each day. You will know my displeasure.

³⁵I, the LORD, have spoken. I swear that I will do this to the entire evil community that has conspired against me. They will come to an end in the wilderness, and there they will die.”

³⁶So the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and who returned and incited the entire community to complain about him by spreading a negative report about the land —

³⁷those men who spread the negative report about the land were struck down by the LORD.

³⁸Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to scout out the land.

³⁹When Moses reported these words to all the Israelites, the people were overcome with grief.

⁴⁰They got up early the next morning and went up the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Let’s go to the place the LORD promised, for we were wrong.”

⁴¹But Moses responded, “Why are you going against the LORD’s command? It won’t succeed.

⁴²Don’t go, because the LORD is not among you and you will be defeated by your enemies.

⁴³The Amalekites and Canaanites are right in front of you, and you will fall by the sword. The LORD won’t be with you, since you have turned from following him.”

⁴⁴But they dared to go up the ridge of the hill country, even though the ark of the LORD’s covenant and Moses did not leave the camp.

⁴⁵Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them as far as Hormah.

¹The LORD instructed Moses:

²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you to settle in,

³and you make a fire offering to the LORD from the herd or flock — either a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow, or as a freewill offering, or at your appointed festivals — to produce a pleasing aroma for the LORD,

⁴the one presenting his offering to the LORD is also to present a grain offering of two quarts of fine flour mixed with a quart of oil.

⁵Prepare a quart of wine as a drink offering with the burnt offering or sacrifice of each lamb.

⁶“If you prepare a grain offering with a ram, it is to be four quarts of fine flour mixed with a third of a gallon of oil.

⁷Also present a third of a gallon of wine for a drink offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

⁸“If you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or as a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow, or as a fellowship offering to the LORD,

⁹a grain offering of six quarts of fine flour mixed with two quarts of oil is to be presented with the bull.

¹⁰Also present two quarts of wine as a drink offering. It is a fire offering of pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹¹This is to be done for each ox, ram, lamb, or goat.

¹²This is how you are to prepare each of them, no matter how many.

¹³“Every Israelite is to prepare these things in this way when he presents a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁴When an alien resides with you or someone else is among you and wants to prepare a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD, he is to do exactly as you do throughout your generations.

¹⁵The assembly is to have the same statute for both you and the resident alien as a permanent statute throughout your generations. You and the alien will be alike before the LORD.

¹⁶The same law and the same ordinance will apply to both you and the alien who resides with you.”

¹⁷The LORD instructed Moses:

¹⁸“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: After you enter the land where I am bringing you,

¹⁹you are to offer a contribution to the LORD when you eat from the food of the land.

²⁰You are to offer a loaf from your first batch of dough as a contribution; offer it just like a contribution from the threshing floor.

²¹Throughout your generations, you are to give the LORD a contribution from the first batch of your dough.

²²“When you sin unintentionally and do not obey all these commands that the LORD spoke to Moses  —

²³all that the LORD has commanded you through Moses, from the day the LORD issued the commands and onward throughout your generations —

²⁴and if it was done unintentionally without the community’s awareness, the entire community is to prepare one young bull for a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD, with its grain offering and drink offering according to the regulation, and one male goat as a sin offering.

²⁵The priest will then make atonement for the entire Israelite community so that they may be forgiven, for the sin was unintentional. They are to bring their offering, one made by fire to the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD for their unintentional sin.

²⁶The entire Israelite community and the alien who resides among them will be forgiven, since it happened to all the people unintentionally.

²⁷“If one person sins unintentionally, he is to present a year-old female goat as a sin offering.

²⁸The priest will then make atonement before the LORD on behalf of the person who acts in error sinning unintentionally, and when he makes atonement for him, he will be forgiven.

²⁹You are to have the same law for the person who acts in error, whether he is an Israelite or an alien who resides among you.

³⁰“But the person who acts defiantly, whether native or resident alien, blasphemes the LORD. That person is to be cut off from his people.

³¹He will certainly be cut off, because he has despised the LORD’s word and broken his command; his guilt remains on him.”

³²While the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.

³³Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the entire community.

³⁴They placed him in custody because it had not been decided what should be done to him.

³⁵Then the LORD told Moses, “The man is to be put to death. The entire community is to stone him outside the camp.”

³⁶So the entire community brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

³⁷The LORD said to Moses,

³⁸“Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout their generations they are to make tassels for the corners of their garments, and put a blue cord on the tassel at each corner.

³⁹These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the LORD’s commands and obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes.

⁴⁰This way you will remember and obey all my commands and be holy to your God.

⁴¹I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the LORD your God.”

¹Now Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took

²two hundred and fifty prominent Israelite men who were leaders of the community and representatives in the assembly, and they rebelled against Moses.

³They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have gone too far! Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?”

⁴When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.

⁵Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will reveal who belongs to him, who is set apart, and the one he will let come near him. He will let the one he chooses come near him.

⁶Korah, you and all your followers are to do this: take firepans, and tomorrow

⁷place fire in them and put incense on them before the LORD. Then the man the LORD chooses will be the one who is set apart. It is you Levites who have gone too far!”

⁸Moses also told Korah, “Now listen, Levites!

⁹Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community to bring you near to himself, to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the community to minister to them?

¹⁰He has brought you near, and all your fellow Levites who are with you, but you are pursuing the priesthood as well.

¹¹Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the LORD! As for Aaron, who is he that you should complain about him?”

¹²Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come!

¹³Is it not enough that you brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Do you also have to appoint yourself as ruler over us?

¹⁴Furthermore, you didn’t bring us to a land flowing with milk and honey or give us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come!”

¹⁵Then Moses became angry and said to the LORD, “Don’t respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.”

¹⁶So Moses told Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow — you, they, and Aaron.

¹⁷Each of you is to take his firepan, place incense on it, and present his firepan before the LORD  — 250 firepans. You and Aaron are each to present your firepan also.”

¹⁸Each man took his firepan, placed fire in it, put incense on it, and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting along with Moses and Aaron.

¹⁹After Korah assembled the whole community against them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole community.

²⁰The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron,

²¹“Separate yourselves from this community so I may consume them instantly.”

²²But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “God, God who gives breath to all, when one man sins, will you vent your wrath on the whole community?”

²³The LORD replied to Moses,

²⁴“Tell the community: Get away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.

²⁶He warned the community, “Get away now from the tents of these wicked men. Don’t touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”

²⁷So they got away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance of their tents with their wives, children, and infants.

²⁸Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD sent me to do all these things and that it was not of my own will:

²⁹If these men die naturally as all people would, and suffer the fate of all, then the LORD has not sent me.

³⁰But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them along with all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised the LORD.”

³¹Just as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open.

³²The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, all Korah’s people, and all their possessions.

³³They went down alive into Sheol with all that belonged to them. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.

³⁴At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled because they thought, “The earth may swallow us too!”

³⁵Fire also came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were presenting the incense.

³⁶Then the LORD spoke to Moses:

³⁷“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the firepans from the burning debris, because they are holy, and scatter the fire far away.

³⁸As for the firepans of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, make them into hammered sheets as plating for the altar, for they presented them before the LORD, and the firepans are holy. They will be a sign to the Israelites.”

³⁹So the priest Eleazar took the bronze firepans that those who were burned had presented, and they were hammered into plating for the altar,

⁴⁰just as the LORD commanded him through Moses. It was to be a reminder for the Israelites that no unauthorized person outside the lineage of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the LORD and become like Korah and his followers.

⁴¹The next day the entire Israelite community complained about Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”

⁴²When the community assembled against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the tent of meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it, and the LORD’s glory appeared.

⁴³Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting,

⁴⁴and the LORD said to Moses,

⁴⁵“Get away from this community so that I may consume them instantly.” But they fell facedown.

⁴⁶Then Moses told Aaron, “Take your firepan, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the community and make atonement for them, because wrath has come from the LORD; the plague has begun.”

⁴⁷So Aaron took his firepan as Moses had ordered, ran into the middle of the assembly, and saw that the plague had begun among the people. After he added incense, he made atonement for the people.

⁴⁸He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was halted.

⁴⁹But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who died because of the Korah incident.

⁵⁰Aaron then returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, since the plague had been halted.

¹The LORD instructed Moses:

²“Speak to the Israelites and take one staff from them for each ancestral tribe, twelve staffs from all the leaders of their tribes. Write each man’s name on his staff.

³Write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff, because there is to be one staff for the head of each tribe.

⁴Then place them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony where I meet with you.

⁵The staff of the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of the Israelites’ complaints that they have been making about you.”

⁶So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each of the leaders of their tribes, twelve staffs in all. Aaron’s staff was among them.

⁷Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the testimony.

⁸The next day Moses entered the tent of the testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, formed buds, blossomed, and produced almonds!

⁹Moses then brought out all the staffs from the LORD’s presence to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man took his own staff.

¹⁰The LORD told Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the testimony to be kept as a sign for the rebels, so that you may put an end to their complaints before me, or else they will die.”

¹¹So Moses did as the LORD commanded him.

¹²Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we’re perishing! We’re lost; we’re all lost!

¹³Anyone who comes near the LORD’s tabernacle will die. Will we all perish?”

¹The LORD said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your ancestral family will be responsible for iniquity against the sanctuary. You and your sons will be responsible for iniquity involving your priesthood.

²But also bring your relatives with you from the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, so they may join you and assist you and your sons in front of the tent of the testimony.

³They are to perform duties for you and for the whole tent. They must not come near the sanctuary equipment or the altar; otherwise, both they and you will die.

⁴They are to join you and guard the tent of meeting, doing all the work at the tent, but no unauthorized person may come near you.

⁵“You are to guard the sanctuary and the altar so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again.

⁶Look, I have selected your fellow Levites from the Israelites as a gift for you, assigned by the LORD to work at the tent of meeting.

⁷But you and your sons will carry out your priestly responsibilities for everything concerning the altar and for what is inside the curtain, and you will do that work. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift, but an unauthorized person who comes near the sanctuary will be put to death.”

⁸Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, “Look, I have put you in charge of the contributions brought to me. As for all the holy offerings of the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a permanent statute.

⁹A portion of the holiest offerings kept from the fire will be yours; every one of their offerings that they give me, whether the grain offering, sin offering, or guilt offering will be most holy for you and your sons.

¹⁰You are to eat it as a most holy offering. Every male may eat it; it is to be holy to you.

¹¹“The contribution of their gifts also belongs to you. I have given all the Israelites’ presentation offerings to you and to your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. Every ceremonially clean person in your house may eat it.

¹²I am giving you all the best of the fresh oil, new wine, and grain, which the Israelites give to the LORD as their firstfruits.

¹³The firstfruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, belong to you. Every clean person in your house may eat them.

¹⁴“Everything in Israel that is permanently dedicated to the LORD belongs to you.

¹⁵The firstborn of every living thing, human or animal, presented to the LORD belongs to you. But you must certainly redeem a human firstborn, and redeem the firstborn of an unclean animal.

¹⁶You will pay the redemption price for a month-old male according to your assessment: five shekels of silver by the standard sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs.

¹⁷“However, you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep, or a goat; they are holy. You are to splatter their blood on the altar and burn their fat as a fire offering for a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁸But their meat belongs to you. It belongs to you like the breast of the presentation offering and the right thigh.

¹⁹“I give to you and to your sons and daughters all the holy contributions that the Israelites present to the LORD as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt before the LORD for you as well as your offspring.”

²⁰The LORD told Aaron, “You will not have an inheritance in their land; there will be no portion among them for you. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.

²¹“Look, I have given the Levites every tenth in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work they do, the work of the tent of meeting.

²²The Israelites must never again come near the tent of meeting, or they will incur guilt and die.

²³The Levites will do the work of the tent of meeting, and they will bear the consequences of their iniquity. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites; this is a permanent statute throughout your generations.

²⁴For I have given them the tenth that the Israelites present to the LORD as a contribution for their inheritance. That is why I told them that they would not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.”

²⁵The LORD instructed Moses,

²⁶“Speak to the Levites and tell them: When you receive from the Israelites the tenth that I have given you as your inheritance, you are to present part of it as an offering to the LORD  — a tenth of the tenth.

²⁷Your offering will be credited to you as if it were your grain from the threshing floor or the full harvest from the winepress.

²⁸You are to present an offering to the LORD from every tenth you receive from the Israelites. Give some of it to the priest Aaron as an offering to the LORD.

²⁹You must present the entire offering due the LORD from all your gifts. The best part of the tenth is to be consecrated.

³⁰“Tell them further: Once you have presented the best part of the tenth, and it is credited to you Levites as the produce of the threshing floor or the winepress,

³¹then you and your household may eat it anywhere. It is your wage in return for your work at the tent of meeting.

³²You will not incur guilt because of it once you have presented the best part of it, but you must not defile the Israelites’ holy offerings, so that you will not die.”

¹The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron,

²“This is the legal statute that the LORD has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red cow that has no defect and has never been yoked.

³Give it to the priest Eleazar, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

⁴The priest Eleazar is to take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting.

⁵The cow is to be burned in his sight. Its hide, flesh, and blood, are to be burned along with its waste.

⁶The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson yarn, and throw them onto the fire where the cow is burning.

⁷Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may enter the camp, but he will remain ceremonially unclean until evening.

⁸The one who burned the cow must also wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he will remain unclean until evening.

⁹“A man who is clean is to gather up the cow’s ashes and deposit them outside the camp in a ceremonially clean place. The ashes will be kept by the Israelite community for preparing the water to remove impurity; it is a sin offering.

¹⁰Then the one who gathers up the cow’s ashes must wash his clothes, and he will remain unclean until evening. This is a permanent statute for the Israelites and for the alien who resides among them.

¹¹“The person who touches any human corpse will be unclean for seven days.

¹²He is to purify himself with the water on the third day and the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean.

¹³Anyone who touches a body of a person who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person will be cut off from Israel. He remains unclean because the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him, and his uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴“This is the law when a person dies in a tent: everyone who enters the tent and everyone who is already in the tent will be unclean for seven days,

¹⁵and any open container without a lid tied on it is unclean.

¹⁶Anyone in the open field who touches a person who has been killed by the sword or has died, or who even touches a human bone, or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

¹⁷For the purification of the unclean person, they are to take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and add fresh water to them.

¹⁸A person who is clean is to take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, a corpse, or a person who had been killed.

¹⁹“The one who is clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being purified must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be clean by evening.

²⁰But a person who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person will be cut off from the assembly because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

²¹This is a permanent statute for them. The person who sprinkles the water for impurity is to wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water for impurity will be unclean until evening.

²²Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.”

¹The entire Israelite community entered the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and they settled in Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there.

²There was no water for the community, so they assembled against Moses and Aaron.

³The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD.

⁴Why have you brought the LORD’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here?

⁵Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It’s not a place of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates, and there is no water to drink!”

⁶Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting. They fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them.

⁷The LORD spoke to Moses,

⁸“Take the staff and assemble the community. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will yield its water. You will bring out water for them from the rock and provide drink for the community and their livestock.”

⁹So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence just as he had commanded him.

¹⁰Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels! Must we bring water out of this rock for you?”

¹¹Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that abundant water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

¹²But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me to demonstrate my holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.”

¹³These are the Waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD, and he demonstrated his holiness to them.

¹⁴Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, “This is what your brother Israel says, ‘You know all the hardships that have overtaken us.

¹⁵Our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt many years, but the Egyptians treated us and our fathers badly.

¹⁶When we cried out to the LORD, he heard our plea, and sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Now look, we are in Kadesh, a city on the border of your territory.

¹⁷Please let us travel through your land. We won’t travel through any field or vineyard, or drink any well water. We will travel the King’s Highway; we won’t turn to the right or the left until we have traveled through your territory.’”

¹⁸But Edom answered him, “You will not travel through our land, or we will come out and confront you with the sword.”

¹⁹“We will go on the main road,” the Israelites replied to them, “and if we or our herds drink your water, we will pay its price. There will be no problem; only let us travel through on foot.”

²⁰Yet Edom insisted, “You may not travel through.” And they came out to confront them with a large force of heavily-armed people.

²¹Edom refused to allow Israel to travel through their territory, and Israel turned away from them.

²²After they set out from Kadesh, the entire Israelite community came to Mount Hor.

²³The LORD said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor on the border of the land of Edom,

²⁴“Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will not enter the land I have given the Israelites, because you both rebelled against my command at the Waters of Meribah.

²⁵Take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up Mount Hor.

²⁶Remove Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron will be gathered to his people and die there.”

²⁷So Moses did as the LORD commanded, and they climbed Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community.

²⁸After Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

²⁹When the whole community saw that Aaron had passed away, the entire house of Israel mourned for him thirty days.

¹When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming on the Atharim road, he fought against Israel and captured some prisoners.

²Then Israel made a vow to the LORD, “If you will hand this people over to us, we will completely destroy their cities.”

³The LORD listened to Israel’s request and handed the Canaanites over to them, and Israel completely destroyed them and their cities. So they named the place Hormah.

⁴Then they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey.

⁵The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”

⁶Then the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died.

⁷The people then came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so that he will take the snakes away from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.

⁸Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.”

⁹So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered.

¹⁰The Israelites set out and camped at Oboth.

¹¹They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim in the wilderness that borders Moab on the east.

¹²From there they went and camped at Zered Valley.

¹³They set out from there and camped on the other side of the Arnon River, in the wilderness that extends from the Amorite border, because the Arnon was the Moabite border between Moab and the Amorites.

¹⁴Therefore it is stated in the Book of the LORD’s Wars: Waheb in Suphah and the ravines of the Arnon,

¹⁵even the slopes of the ravines that extend to the site of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.

¹⁶From there they went to Beer, the well the LORD told Moses about, “Gather the people so I may give them water.”

¹⁷Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, well — sing to it!

¹⁸The princes dug the well; the nobles of the people hollowed it out with a scepter and with their staffs. They went from the wilderness to Mattanah,

¹⁹from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

²⁰from Bamoth to the valley in the territory of Moab near the Pisgah highlands that overlook the wasteland.

²¹Israel sent messengers to say to King Sihon of the Amorites:

²²“Let us travel through your land. We won’t go into the fields or vineyards. We won’t drink any well water. We will travel the King’s Highway until we have traveled through your territory.”

²³But Sihon would not let Israel travel through his territory. Instead, he gathered his whole army and went out to confront Israel in the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.

²⁴Israel struck him with the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only up to the Ammonite border, because it was fortified.

²⁵Israel took all the cities and lived in all these Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all its surrounding villages.

²⁶Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken control of all his land as far as the Arnon.

²⁷Therefore the poets say: Come to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt; let the city of Sihon be restored.

²⁸For fire came out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the citizens of Arnon’s heights.

²⁹Woe to you, Moab! You have been destroyed, people of Chemosh! He gave up his sons as refugees, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon the Amorite king.

³⁰We threw them down; Heshbon has been destroyed as far as Dibon. We caused desolation as far as Nophah, which reaches as far as Medeba.

³¹So Israel lived in the Amorites’ land.

³²After Moses sent spies to Jazer, Israel captured its surrounding villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.

³³Then they turned and went up the road to Bashan, and King Og of Bashan came out against them with his whole army to do battle at Edrei.

³⁴But the LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you along with his whole army and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”

³⁵So they struck him, his sons, and his whole army until no one was left, and they took possession of his land.

¹The Israelites traveled on and camped in the plains of Moab near the Jordan across from Jericho.

²Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

³Moab was terrified of the people because they were numerous, and Moab dreaded the Israelites.

⁴So the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will devour everything around us like an ox eats up the green plants in the field.” Since Balak son of Zippor was Moab’s king at that time,

⁵he sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates in the land of his people. Balak said to him: “Look, a people has come out of Egypt; they cover the surface of the land and are living right across from me.

⁶Please come and put a curse on these people for me because they are more powerful than I am. I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that those you bless are blessed and those you curse are cursed.”

⁷The elders of Moab and Midian departed with fees for divination in hand. They came to Balaam and reported Balak’s words to him.

⁸He said to them, “Spend the night here, and I will give you the answer the LORD tells me.” So the officials of Moab stayed with Balaam.

⁹Then God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?”

¹⁰Balaam replied to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent this message to me:

¹¹‘Look, a people has come out of Egypt, and they cover the surface of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. I may be able to fight against them and drive them away.’”

¹²Then God said to Balaam, “You are not to go with them. You are not to curse this people, for they are blessed.”

¹³So Balaam got up the next morning and said to Balak’s officials, “Go back to your land, because the LORD has refused to let me go with you.”

¹⁴The officials of Moab arose, returned to Balak, and reported, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

¹⁵Balak sent officials again who were more numerous and higher in rank than the others.

¹⁶They came to Balaam and said to him, “This is what Balak son of Zippor says: ‘Let nothing keep you from coming to me,

¹⁷for I will greatly honor you and do whatever you ask me. So please come and put a curse on these people for me! ’”

¹⁸But Balaam responded to the servants of Balak, “If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go against the command of the LORD my God to do anything small or great.

¹⁹Please stay here overnight as the others did, so that I may find out what else the LORD has to tell me.”

²⁰God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “Since these men have come to summon you, get up and go with them, but you must only do what I tell you.”

²¹When he got up in the morning, Balaam saddled his donkey and went with the officials of Moab.

²²But God was incensed that Balaam was going, and the angel of the LORD took his stand on the path to oppose him. Balaam was riding his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

²³When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing on the path with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the path and went into the field. So Balaam hit her to return her to the path.

²⁴Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow passage between the vineyards, with a stone wall on either side.

²⁵The donkey saw the angel of the LORD and pressed herself against the wall, squeezing Balaam’s foot against it. So he hit her once again.

²⁶The angel of the LORD went ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn to the right or the left.

²⁷When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she crouched down under Balaam. So he became furious and beat the donkey with his stick.

²⁸Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she asked Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?”

²⁹Balaam answered the donkey, “You made me look like a fool. If I had a sword in my hand, I’d kill you now!”

³⁰But the donkey said, “Am I not the donkey you’ve ridden all your life until today? Have I ever treated you this way before?” “No,” he replied.

³¹Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the path with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam knelt low and bowed in worship on his face.

³²The angel of the LORD asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Look, I came out to oppose you, because I consider what you are doing to be evil.

³³The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away from me, I would have killed you by now and let her live.”

³⁴Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the path to confront me. And now, if it is evil in your sight, I will go back.”

³⁵Then the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you are to say only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.

³⁶When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite city on the Arnon border at the edge of his territory.

³⁷Balak asked Balaam, “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?”

³⁸Balaam said to him, “Look, I have come to you, but can I say anything I want? I must speak only the message God puts in my mouth.”

³⁹So Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth.

⁴⁰Balak sacrificed cattle, sheep, and goats and sent for Balaam and the officials who were with him.

⁴¹In the morning, Balak took Balaam and brought him to Bamoth-baal. From there he saw the outskirts of the people’s camp.

¹Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”

²So Balak did as Balaam directed, and they offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

³Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone. Maybe the LORD will meet with me. I will tell you whatever he reveals to me.” So he went to a barren hill.

⁴God met with him and Balaam said to him, “I have arranged seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.”

⁵Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and say what I tell you.”

⁶So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with all the officials of Moab.

⁷Balaam proclaimed his poem: Balak brought me from Aram; the king of Moab, from the eastern mountains: “Come, put a curse on Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel!”

⁸How can I curse someone God has not cursed? How can I denounce someone the LORD has not denounced?

⁹I see them from the top of rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. There is a people living alone; it does not consider itself among the nations.

¹⁰Who has counted the dust of Jacob or numbered even one-fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright; let the end of my life be like theirs.

¹¹“What have you done to me?” Balak asked Balaam. “I brought you to curse my enemies, but look, you have only blessed them!”

¹²He answered, “Shouldn’t I say exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

¹³Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the outskirts of their camp; you won’t see all of them. From there, put a curse on them for me.”

¹⁴So Balak took him to Lookout Field on top of Pisgah, built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here by your burnt offering while I seek the LORD over there.”

¹⁶The LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth. Then he said, “Return to Balak and say what I tell you.”

¹⁷So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the officials of Moab. Balak asked him, “What did the LORD say?”

¹⁸Balaam proclaimed his poem: Balak, get up and listen; son of Zippor, pay attention to what I say!

¹⁹God is not a man, that he might lie, or a son of man, that he might change his mind. Does he speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?

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

²¹He considers no disaster for Jacob; he sees no trouble for Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and there is rejoicing over the King among them.

²²God brought them out of Egypt; he is like the horns of a wild ox for them.

²³There is no magic curse against Jacob and no divination against Israel. It will now be said about Jacob and Israel, “What great things God has done!”

²⁴A people rise up like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion. They will not lie down until they devour the prey and drink the blood of the slain.

²⁵Then Balak told Balaam, “Don’t curse them and don’t bless them!”

²⁶But Balaam answered him, “Didn’t I tell you: Whatever the LORD says, I must do?”

²⁷Again Balak said to Balaam, “Please come. I will take you to another place. Maybe it will be agreeable to God that you can put a curse on them for me there.”

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

²⁹Balaam told Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”

³⁰So Balak did as Balaam said and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.