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

So 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,

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

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

Balaam proclaimed his poem:

Balak, get up and listen;
son of Zippor, pay attention to what I say!

When Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw this, he got up from the assembly, took a spear in his hand,