for I will greatly promote thee unto great honour, and will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me! Come therefore I pray thee, curse me this people.'"

And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can go no further than the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more.

Nevertheless tarry ye here all night: that I may know what the LORD will say unto me once more."

And God came to Balaam by night and said unto him, "If the men come to fetch thee, rise up and go with them: but what I say unto thee, that only thou shalt do."

And Balaam rose up early and saddled his ass and went with the lords of Moab.

But God was angry because he went. And the angel of the LORD stood in the way against him. And he rode upon his ass and two servants with him.

And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD stand in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand, she turned aside out of the way and went out into the field. And Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.

And the angel of the LORD went and stood in a path between the vineyards, where was a wall on the one side and another on the other.

When the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she wrenched unto the wall and thrust Balaam's foot unto the wall, and he smote her again.

And the angel of the LORD went further and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn, either to the righthand or to the left.

And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam was wroth and smote the ass with a staff.

And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, "What have I done unto thee, that thou smitest me thus three times?"

And Balaam said unto the Ass, "Because thou hast mocked me! I would that I had a sword in mine hand, that I might now kill thee."

And the ass said unto Balaam, "Am not I thine ass which thou hast ridden upon since thou wast born unto this day? Was I ever wont to do so unto thee?" And he said, "Nay."

And the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam that he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand. And he bowed himself and fell flat on his face.

And the angel of the LORD said unto him, "Wherefore smitest thou thine ass this three times? Behold, I came out to resist thee, for the way is contrary unto me,

and the ass saw me and avoided me three times: or else, had she not turned from me, I had surely slain thee and saved her alive."

And Balaam said unto the angel of the LORD, "I have sinned: for I wist not that thou stoodest in the way against me. Now therefore if it displease thine eyes, I will turn again."

And the angel said unto Balaam, "Go with the men: but in any wise, what I say unto thee, that say." And Balaam went with the lords of Balak.

And when Balak heard that Balaam was come, he went out against him unto a city of Moab that stood in the border of Arnon, which was the utmost part of his country.

And Balak said unto Balaam, "Did I not send for thee, to call thee? Wherefore camest thou not unto me? Thinkest thou that I am not able to promote thee unto honour?"

And Balaam said unto Balak, "Lo, I am come unto thee. But I can say nothing at all, save what God putteth in my mouth that must I speak."

And Balaam went with Balak, and they came unto the city of Huzoth.

And Balak offered oxen and sheep, and sent for Balaam and for the lords that were with him.

And on the morning Balak took Balaam and brought him up into the high place of Baal, and thence he saw unto the utmost part of the people.

And Balaam said unto Balak, "Build me here seven altars and provide here seven oxen and seven rams."

And Balak did as Balaam said. And Balak and Balaam offered on every altar an ox and a ram.

And Balaam said unto Balak, "Stand by the sacrifice, while I go to know whether the LORD will come and meet me; and whatsoever he showeth me, I will tell thee." And he went forthwith.

And God came unto Balaam, and Balaam said unto him, "I have prepared seven altars, and have offered upon every altar, an ox and a ram."

And the LORD put a saying in Balaam's mouth, and said, "Go again to Balak and say on this wise."

And he went again unto him and lo, he stood by his sacrifice: both he and all the lords of Moab.

And he began his parable, and said, "Balak the king of Moab hath fetched me from Mesopotamia out of the mountains of the east saying, 'Come and curse me Jacob, come and defy me Israel.'

How shall I curse whom God curseth not? And how shall I defy whom the LORD defieth not?

From the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: Lo, the people shall dwell by himself and shall not be reckoned among other nations.

Who can tell the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? I pray God that my soul may die the death of the righteous, and that my last end may be like his!"

And Balak said unto Balaam, "What hast thou done unto me? I fetched thee to curse mine enemies: and behold, thou blessest them!"

And he answered, and said, "Must I not keep that and speak it, which the LORD hath put in my mouth?"

And Balak said unto him, "Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place: whence thou shalt see them, and shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all and curse me them there."

And he brought him into a plain field where men might see far, even to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered an ox and a ram on every altar.

And he said unto Balak, "Stand here, by thy sacrifice, while I go yonder."

And the LORD met Balaam and put words in his mouth, and said, "Go again unto Balak and thus say."

And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his sacrifice: and the lords of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, "What sayeth the LORD?"

And he took up his parable and said, "Rise up, Balak, and hear! And hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor!

The Lord God is not a man, that he can lie; neither the son of a man, that he can repent! Should he say, and not do? Or should he speak, and not make it good?

Behold: I have begun to bless, and have blessed; and cannot go back therefrom.

He beheld no wickedness in Jacob, nor saw Idolatry in Israel: The LORD his God is with him, and the tromp of a king among them.

God, that brought them out of Egypt, is as the strength of an unicorn unto them!

For there is no sorcerer in Jacob, nor soothsayer in Israel. When the time cometh, it will be said of Jacob and of Israel, 'What God hath wrought!'

Behold, the people shall rise up as a lioness and heave up himself as a lion; and shall not lie down again, until he have eaten of the prey and drunk of the blood of them that are slain!"

And Balak said unto Balaam, "Neither curse them nor bless them."

And Balaam answered and said unto Balak, "Told not I thee, saying, 'All that the LORD biddeth me, that I must do?'"

And Balak said unto Balaam, "Come, I pray thee; I will bring thee yet unto another place: so peradventure it shall please God that thou mayest curse them there."

And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that boweth toward the wilderness.

And Balaam said unto Balak, "Make me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams."

And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.

When Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD that he should bless Israel, he went not as he did twice before to fetch soothsaying, but set his face toward the wilderness,

and lift up his eyes and looked upon Israel as he lay with his tribes, and the spirit of God came upon him.

And he took up his parable, and said, "Balaam the son of Beor hath said;

and the man whose eye is open hath said; he hath said, which heareth the words of God and seeth the visions of the almighty, which falleth down and his eyes are opened:

How goodly are the tents of Jacob, and thine habitations Israel;

even as the broad valleys and as gardens by the river's side, as the tents which the LORD hath pitched and as cypress trees upon the water.

The water shall flow out of his bucket and his seed shall be many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag; and his kingdom shall be exalted.

God that brought him out of Egypt is as the strength of an unicorn unto him, and he shall eat the nations that are his enemies and break their bones and pierce them through with his arrows.

He couched himself and lay down as a lion and as a lioness; who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee."

And Balak was wroth with Balaam, and smote his hands together, and said unto him, "I sent for thee to curse mine enemies: and behold, thou hast blessed them this three times,

and now get thee quickly unto thy place. I thought that I would promote thee unto honour, but the LORD hath kept thee back from worship."

And Balaam said unto Balak, "Told I not thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying,

'If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot pass the mouth of the LORD, to do either good or bad of mine own mind. What the LORD sayeth, that must I speak.'

And now behold, I go unto my people: come let me show thee, what this people shall do to thy folk in the latter days."

And he began his parable and said, "Balaam the son of Beor hath said; and the man that hath his eye open hath said;

and he hath said, that heareth the words of God and hath the knowledge of the most high and beholdeth the vision of the almighty, and when he falleth down hath his eyes opened:

I see him but not now, I behold him but not nigh. There shall come a star of Jacob and rise a scepter of Israel, which shall smite the coasts of Moab and undermine all the children of Seth.

And Edom shall be his possession, and the possession of Seir shall be their enemies, and Israel shall do manfully.

And out of Jacob shall come he that shall destroy the remnant of the cities."

And he looked on Amalek and began his parable, and said, "Amalek is the first of the nations, but his latter end shall perish utterly."

And he looked on the Kenites, and took his parable, and said, "Strong is thy dwelling place, and put thy nest upon a rock.

And he took his parable, and said, "Alas, who shall live when God doeth this?

The ships shall come out of the coast of Kittim and subdue Assyria and subdue Eber, and he himself shall perish at the last."

And Balaam rose up and went and dwelt in his place: and Balak also went his way.

And Israel dwelt in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab,

which called the people unto the sacrifice of their gods. And the people ate, and worshipped their gods,

and Israel coupled himself unto Baal-Peor. Then the LORD was angry with Israel,

and said unto Moses, "Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up unto the LORD against the sun, that the wrath of the LORD may turn away from Israel."

And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, "Go and slay those men that joined themselves unto Baal- Peor."

And behold, one of the children of Israel went in against his brethren, and joined himself to a Midianitish woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the multitude of the children of Israel as they were weeping in the door of the tabernacle of witness.

And when Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose up out of the company and took a weapon in his hand,

and went after the man of Israel into the whorehouse, and thrust them through: both the man of Israel and also the woman even through the belly of her. And the plague ceased from the children of Israel.

And there died in the plague twenty four thousand.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Wherefore, say, 'Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace,

and he shall have it and his seed after him, even the covenant of the priest's office forever, because he was jealous for his God's sake and made an atonement for the children of Israel.'"

And the name of the Midianitish woman was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur and head over the people of an ancient house in Midian.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

"Vex the Midianites and smite them,

for they have troubled you with their wiles with thee, which they have beguiled you, through Peor and through their sister Cozbi the daughter of a lord in Midian, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake."

And after the plague, the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Eleazar, saying,

"Take the number of all the multitude of the children of Israel from twenty years and above throughout their fathers' houses, all that are able to go to war in Israel."

And Moses and Eleazar the priest told them in the fields of Moab by Jordan, fast by Jericho,

from twenty years and above, as the LORD commanded Moses. And the children of Israel that came of Egypt were:

Reuben, the eldest son of Israel. The children of Reuben were, Hanoch, of whom cometh the kindred of the Hanochites; and of Pallu, cometh the kindred of the Palluites;