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

And the Moabites were greatly afraid of the people, because they were so numerous. The Moabites were sick with fear because of the Israelites.

So the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, "Now this mass of people will lick up everything around us, as the bull devours the grass of the field. Now Balak son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at this time.

So now, please come and curse this nation for me, for they are too powerful for me. Perhaps I will prevail so that we may conquer them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed."

So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fee for divination in their hand. They came to Balaam and reported to him the words of Balak.

He replied to them, "Stay here tonight, and I will bring back to you whatever word the Lord may speak to me." So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

So Balaam got up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, "Go to your land, for the Lord has refused to permit me to go with you."

So the princes of Moab departed and went back to Balak and said, "Balaam refused to come with us."

For I will honor you greatly, and whatever you tell me I will do. So come, put a curse on this nation for me.'"

Now therefore, please stay the night here also, that I may know what more the Lord might say to me."

God came to Balaam that night, and said to him, "If the men have come to call you, get up and go with them; but the word that I will say to you, that you must do."

So Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.

Then God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him.

And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn in his hand, so the donkey turned aside from the road and went into the field. But Balaam beat the donkey, to make her turn back to the road.

And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed herself into the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall. So he beat her again.

When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she crouched down under Balaam. Then Balaam was angry, and he beat his donkey with a staff.

Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his sword drawn in his hand; so he bowed his head and threw himself down with his face to the ground.

The donkey saw me and turned from me these three times. If she had not turned from me, I would have killed you but saved her alive."

Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, "I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood against me in the road. So now, if it is evil in your sight, I will go back home."

But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, "Go with the men, but you may only speak the word that I will speak to you." So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

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

Then on the next morning Balak took Balaam, and brought him up to Bamoth Baal. From there he saw the extent of the nation.

So Balak did just as Balaam had said. Balak and Balaam then offered on each altar a bull and a ram.

Then the Lord put a message in Balaam's mouth and said, "Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you."

So he returned to him, and he was still standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

For from the top of the rocks I see them; from the hills I watch them. Indeed, a nation that lives alone, and it will not be reckoned among the nations.

Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from which you can observe them. You will see only a part of them, but you will not see all of them. Curse them for me from there."

So Balak brought Balaam to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks toward the wilderness.

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

When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at the other times to seek for omens, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

When Balaam lifted up his eyes, he saw Israel camped tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him.

They are like valleys stretched forth, like gardens by the river's side, like aloes that the Lord has planted, and like cedar trees beside the waters.

So now, go back where you came from! I said that I would greatly honor you; but now the Lord has stood in the way of your honor."

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not close at hand. A star will march forth out of Jacob, and a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab, and the heads of all the sons of Sheth.

The Lord said to Moses, "Arrest all the leaders of the people, and hang them up before the Lord in broad daylight, so that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel."

So Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you must execute those of his men who were joined to Baal-peor."

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

and went after the Israelite man into the tent and thrust through the Israelite man and into the woman's abdomen. So the plague was stopped from the Israelites.

"Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites, when he manifested such zeal for my sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in my zeal.

So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God, and has made atonement for the Israelites.'"

So Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan River across from Jericho. They said,

Pallu's descendant was Eliab.

Eliab's descendants were Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. It was Dathan and Abiram who as leaders of the community rebelled against Moses and Aaron with the followers of Korah when they rebelled against the Lord.

The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and Korah at the time that company died, when the fire consumed 250 men. So they became a warning.

Now the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt. And to Amram she bore Aaron, Moses, and Miriam their sister.

So Moses brought their case before the Lord.

"The daughters of Zelophehad have a valid claim. You must indeed give them possession of an inheritance among their father's relatives, and you must transfer the inheritance of their father to them.

and if he has no brothers, then you are to give his inheritance to his father's brothers;

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go up this mountain of the Abarim range, and see the land I have given to the Israelites.

who will go out before them, and who will come in before them, and who will lead them out, and who will bring them in, so that the community of the Lord may not be like sheep that have no shepherd."

Then you must delegate some of your authority to him, so that the whole community of the Israelites will be obedient.

So Moses did as the Lord commanded him; he took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community.

You will say to them, 'This is the offering made by fire which you must offer to the Lord: two unblemished lambs one year old each day for a continual burnt offering.

"'On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Lord's Passover.

So Moses told the Israelites everything, just as the Lord had commanded him.

"If a young woman who is still living in her father's house makes a vow to the Lord or places herself under an obligation,

If she made the vow in her husband's house or put herself under obligation with an oath,

These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses, relating to a man and his wife, and a father and his young daughter who is still living in her father's house.

So Moses spoke to the people: "Arm men from among you for the war, to attack the Midianites and to execute the Lord's vengeance on Midian.

So a thousand from every tribe, twelve thousand armed for battle in all, were provided out of the thousands of Israel.

So Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from every tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who was in charge of the holy articles and the signal trumpets.

You must purify each garment and everything that is made of skin, everything made of goat's hair, and everything made of wood."

From the Israelites' half-share you are to take one portion out of fifty of the people, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep -- from every kind of animal -- and you are to give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the Lord's tabernacle."

So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

the Lord's tribute from the sheep was 675.

The cattle numbered 36,000; the Lord's tribute was 72.

The donkeys were 30,500, of which the Lord's tribute was 61.

The people were 16,000, of which the Lord's tribute was 32 people.

So Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord's raised offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.

From the Israelites' share Moses took one of every fifty people and animals and gave them to the Levites who were responsible for the care of the Lord's tabernacle, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

So we have brought as an offering for the Lord what each man found: gold ornaments, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord."

So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord.

Now the Reubenites and the Gadites possessed a very large number of cattle. When they saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were ideal for cattle,

So they said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for our inheritance. Do not have us cross the Jordan River."

Your fathers did the same thing when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land.

When they went up to the Eshcol Valley and saw the land, they frustrated the intent of the Israelites so that they did not enter the land that the Lord had given them.

So the anger of the Lord was kindled that day, and he swore,

Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years old and upward who came from Egypt will see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

So the Lord's anger was kindled against the Israelites, and he made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all that generation that had done wickedly before the Lord was finished.

and the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward you may return and be free of your obligation to the Lord and to Israel. This land will then be your possession in the Lord's sight.

So build cities for your descendants and pens for your sheep, but do what you have said you would do."

So the Gadites and the Reubenites replied to Moses, "Your servants will do as my lord commands.

but your servants will cross over, every man armed for war, to do battle in the Lord's presence, just as my lord says."

So Moses gave orders about them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the families of the Israelite tribes.

Moses said to them: "If the Gadites and the Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, each one equipped for battle in the Lord's presence, and you conquer the land, then you must allot them the territory of Gilead as their possession.

We will cross armed in the Lord's presence into the land of Canaan, and then the possession of our inheritance that we inherit will be ours on this side of the Jordan River."

So Moses gave to the Gadites, the Reubenites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the realm of King Sihon of the Amorites, and the realm of King Og of Bashan, the entire land with its cities and the territory surrounding them.

So Moses gave Gilead to Machir, son of Manasseh, and he lived there.

They traveled from Pi-hahiroth, and passed through the middle of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and camped in Marah.

They traveled from Marah and came to Elim; in Elim there are twelve fountains of water and seventy palm trees, so they camped there.

They traveled from Elim, and camped by the Red Sea.

They traveled from the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Zin.

You must divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families. To a larger group you must give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group you must give a smaller inheritance. Everyone's inheritance must be in the place where his lot falls. You must inherit according to your ancestral tribes.

your southern border will extend from the wilderness of Zin along the Edomite border, and your southern border will run eastward to the extremity of the Salt Sea,

There the border will turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and then its direction is to the sea.

"'And for a western border you will have the Great Sea. This will be your western border.

"'And this will be your northern border: From the Great Sea you will draw a line to Mount Hor;

The border will run down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain, and the border will descend and reach the eastern side of the Sea of Chinnereth.

Then the border will continue down the Jordan River and its direction will be to the Salt Sea. This will be your land by its borders that surround it.'"