In the morning Balaam got up and said to the chiefs of Balak, Go back to your land, for the Lord will not let me go with you.

So the chiefs of Moab went back to Balak and said, Balaam will not come with us.

For I will give you a place of very great honour, and whatever you say to me I will do; so come, in answer to my prayer, and put a curse on this people.

And Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, I have done wrong, for I did not see that you were in the way against me: but now, if it is evil in your eyes, I will go back again.

Then Balaam said to Balak, Take your place by your burned offering, and I will go and see if the Lord comes to me: and I will give you word of whatever he says to me. And he went to an open place on a hill.

And Balak said to him, Come with me now into another place from which you will not be able to see them all, but only the outskirts of them; and you will send curses on them from there.

God is not a man, to say what is false; or the son of man, that his purpose may be changed: what he has said, will he not do? and will he not give effect to the words of his mouth

No evil power has effect against Jacob, no secret arts against Israel; at the right time it will be said of Jacob and of Israel, See what God has done!

See, Israel comes up like a she-lion, lifting himself up like a lion: he will take no rest till he has made a meal of those he has overcome, drinking the blood of those he has put to death.

Then Balak said to Balaam, If you will not put a curse on them, at all events do not give them a blessing.

Then Balak said to Balaam, Come now, I will take you to another place; it may be that God will let you put a curse on them from there.

Peoples will be in fear before his strength, his arm will be on great nations: his king will be higher than Agag, and his kingdom made great in honour.

It is God who has taken him out of Egypt; his horns are like those of the mountain ox; the nations warring against him will be his food, their bones will be broken, they will be wounded with his arrows.

He took his sleep stretched out like a lion, and like a she-lion: by whom will his rest be broken? May a blessing be on everyone who gives you blessing, and a curse on everyone by whom you are cursed.

Even if Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, it would not be possible for me to go outside the orders of the Lord, doing good or evil at the impulse of my mind; whatever the Lord says I will say?

So now I will go back to my people: but first let me make clear to you what this people will do to your people in days to come.

I see him, but not now: looking on him, but not near: a star will come out of Jacob, and a rod of authority out of Israel, sending destruction to the farthest limits of Moab and on the head of all the sons of Sheth.

Edom will be his heritage, and he will put an end to the last of the people of Seir.

And Israel will go on in strength, and Jacob will have rule over his haters.

Then, turning his eyes to Amalek, he went on with his story and said, Amalek was the first of the nations, but his part will be destruction for ever.

But still the Kenites will be wasted, till Asshur takes you away prisoner.

But ships will come from the direction of Kittim, troubling Asshur and troubling Eber, and like the others their fate will be destruction.

So say to them that I will make with him an agreement of peace:

For the Lord had said of them, Death will certainly overtake them in the waste land. And of them all, only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun, were still living.

And when you have seen it, you will be put to rest with your people, as your brother Aaron was:

He will take his place before Eleazar the priest, so that he may get directions from the Lord for him, with the Urim: at his word they will go out, and at his word they will come in, he and all the children of Israel.

Then on the seventh day there will be a holy meeting; you may do no field-work.

And on the tenth day of this seventh month there will be a holy meeting; keep yourselves from pleasure, and do no sort of work;

When a man takes an oath to the Lord, or gives an undertaking having the force of an oath, let him not go back from his word, but let him do whatever he has said he will do.

If her father, hearing of her oath or the undertaking she has given, says nothing to her, then all her oaths and every undertaking she has given will have force.

But if her father, hearing of it, makes her take back her word, then the oaths or the undertakings she has given will have no force; and she will have forgiveness from the Lord, because her oath was broken by her father.

If her husband, hearing of it, says nothing to her at the time, then the oaths she made and the undertakings she gave will have force.

But if her husband, hearing of it, makes her take it back, then the oath she made and the undertaking she gave without thought will have no force or effect, and she will have the Lord's forgiveness.

But an oath made by a widow or one who is no longer married to her husband, and every undertaking she has given, will have force.

And her husband, hearing of it, said nothing to her and did not put a stop to it, then all her oaths and every undertaking she gave will have force.

But if her husband, on hearing of it, made them without force or effect, then whatever she has said about her oaths or her undertaking has no force: her husband has made them without effect, and she will have the Lord's forgiveness.

Give the Midianites punishment for the wrong they did to the children of Israel: and after that you will go to rest with your people.

You yourselves will have to keep outside the tent-circle for seven days, anyone of you who has put any person to death or come near a dead body; and on the third day and on the seventh day make yourselves and your prisoners clean.

And on the seventh day, after washing your clothing, you will be clean, and then you may come into the tent-circle.

Truly, not one of the men of twenty years old and over who came out of Egypt will see the land which I gave by oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; because they have not been true to me with all their heart;

For if you are turned away from him, he will send them wandering again in the waste land; and you will be the cause of the destruction of all this people.

Then they came to him, and said, We will make safe places for our cattle here, and towns for our little ones;

But we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the children of Israel till we have taken them to their place: but our little ones will be safe in the walled towns against the people of the land.

We will not come back to our houses till every one of the children of Israel has come into his heritage.

For we will not have our heritage with them on the other side of Jordan and forward; because our heritage has come to us on this side of Jordan to the east.

Then Moses said to them, If you will do this, arming yourselves to go before the Lord to the war,

And the land is under the rule of the Lord: then after that you may come back, having done no wrong to the Lord and to Israel; and this land will be yours for your heritage before the Lord.

But if you do not do this, then you are sinners against the Lord; and you may be certain that your sin will have its reward.

And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben said to Moses, Your servants will do as my lord says.

Our little ones, our wives, and our flocks, and all our cattle, will be there in the towns of Gilead;

But your servants will go over, every man armed for war, before the Lord to the fight, as my lord says.

But if they do not go over with you armed, they will have to take their heritage with you in the land of Canaan.

Then the children of Gad and the children of Reuben said, As the Lord has said to your servants, so will we do.

We will go over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, and you will give us our heritage on this side of Jordan.

And you will take up your heritage in the land by the decision of the Lord, to every family its part; the greater the family the greater its heritage, and the smaller the family the smaller will be its heritage; wherever the decision of the Lord gives to any man his part, that will be his; distribution will be made to you by your fathers' tribes.

But if you are slow in driving out the people of the land, then those of them who are still there will be like pin-points in your eyes and like thorns in your sides, troubling you in the land where you are living.

And it will come about that as it was my purpose to do to them, so I will do to you.

Then your south quarter will be from the waste land of Zin by the side of Edom, and your limit on the south will be from the east end of the Salt Sea,

And round to the south of the slope of Akrabbim, and on to Zin: and its direction will be south of Kadesh-barnea, and it will go as far as Hazar-addar and on to Azmon:

And from Azmon it will go round to the stream of Egypt as far as the sea.

And for your limit on the west you will have the Great Sea and its edge: this will be your limit on the west.

And your limit on the north will be the line from the Great Sea to Mount Hor:

And from Mount Hor the line will go in the direction of Hamath; the farthest point of it will be at Zedad:

And the limit will go on to Ziphron, with its farthest point at Hazar-enan: this will be your limit on the north.

And on the east, your limit will be marked out from Hazar-enan to Shepham,

And so down to Jordan, stretching to the Salt Sea: all the land inside these limits will be yours.

The measure of this space of land is to be two thousand cubits outside the town on the east, and two thousand cubits on the south and on the west and on the north, the town being in the middle. This space will be the outskirts of their towns.

Six of the towns which you give will be such safe places;

And the giver of punishment, meeting him outside the walls of the town, puts him to death, he will not be responsible for his blood:

Now if they get married to any of the sons of other tribes of the children of Israel, then their property will be taken away from the heritage of our fathers, and become part of the heritage of the tribe into which they get married: and their heritage will be taken away from the heritage of our tribe.

And at the time of the Jubilee of the children of Israel, their property will be joined to the heritage of the tribe of which they are part and will be taken away from the heritage of the tribe of our fathers.

And so no property will be handed from tribe to tribe among the children of Israel; but every one of the children of Israel will keep the heritage of his father's tribe.

And no property will be handed from one tribe to another, but every tribe of the children of Israel will keep its heritage.

Take for yourselves men who are wise, far-seeing, and respected among you, from your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.

In judging, do not let a man's position have any weight with you; give hearing equally to small and great; have no fear of any man, for it is God who is judge: and any cause in which you are not able to give a decision, you are to put before me and I will give it a hearing.

And you came near to me, every one of you, and said, Let us send men before us to go through the land with care and give us an account of the way we are to go and the towns to which we will come.

The Lord your God who goes before you will be fighting for you, and will do such wonders as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;

Truly, not one of this evil generation will see that good land which I said I would give to your fathers,

But only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, he will see it; and to him and to his children I will give the land over which his feet have gone, because he has been true to the Lord with all his heart.

And, in addition, the Lord was angry with me because of you, saying, You yourself will not go into it:

Joshua, the son of Nun, your servant, he will go into the land: say to him that he is to be strong, for he will be Israel's guide into their heritage.

And your little ones, who, you said, would come into strange hands, your children, who now have no knowledge of good or evil, they will go into that land, and to them I will give it and it will be theirs.

Then you said to me, We have done evil against the Lord, we will go up to the attack, as the Lord our God has given us orders. And arming yourselves every one, you made ready to go up without care into the hill-country.

And the Lord said to me, Say to them, Do not go up to the attack; for I am not among you, and you will be overcome by those who are against you.

And give the people orders, saying, You are about to go through the land of your brothers, the children of Esau, who are living in Seir; and they will have fear of you; so take care what you do:

Make no attack on them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even space enough for a man's foot: because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for his heritage.

And the Lord said to me, Make no attack on Moab and do not go to war with them, for I will not give you any of his land: because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for their heritage.

And when you come near the land of the children of Ammon, give them no cause of trouble and do not make war on them, for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon for your heritage: because I have given it to the children of Lot.

From now on I will put the fear of you in all peoples under heaven, who, hearing of you, will be shaking with fear and grief of heart because of you.

Let me go through your land: I will keep to the highway, not turning to the right or to the left;

And I gave orders to Joshua at that time, saying, Your eyes have seen what the Lord your God has done to these two kings: so will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you come.

Have no fear of them, for the Lord your God will be fighting for you.

But give my orders to Joshua, comforting him and making him strong; for he is to go over Jordan at the head of this people, and he will give them this land which you will see for their heritage.

So keep these laws and do them; for so will your wisdom and good sense be clear in the eyes of the peoples, who hearing all these laws will say, Truly, this great nation is a wise and far-seeing people.

But death is to come to me in this land, I may not go over Jordan: but you will go over and take that good land for your heritage.

For the Lord your God is an all-burning fire, and he will not let the honour which is his be given to any other.

May heaven and earth be my witnesses against you today, that destruction will quickly overtake you, cutting you off from that land which you are going over Jordan to take; your days will not be long in that land, but you will come to a complete end.

And the Lord will send you wandering among the peoples; only a small band of you will be kept from death among the nations where the Lord will send you.

There you will be the servants of gods, made by men's hands, of wood and stone, having no power of seeing or hearing or taking food or smelling.

But if in those lands you are turned again to the Lord your God, searching for him with all your heart and soul, he will not keep himself from you.