05 March - Numbers 23-25

Jude Fri Dec 07, 2018 5:45 pm

My soul doth magnify my YAH, and my spirit hath rejoiced in EL my Saviour; For HE that is mighty hath done to me great things; and Holy is HIS Name. Now unto HIM who is ever present in my helpless estate; who is able to keep me from falling and to present me faultless before the presence of His Glory with exceeding joy, unto the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the only wise EL our Saviour be honour and glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and for ever Halleluyah!

NUMBERS 23

1And Bil‛am said to Balaq, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”

2And Balaq did as Bil‛am had spoken, and Balaq and Bil‛am offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

3Bil‛am then said to Balaq, “Stand by your burnt offering, and let me go on. It might be that יהוה does come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I shall declare to you.” And he went to a bare height.

4And Elohim came to Bil‛am, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”

5And יהוה put a word in the mouth of Bil‛am, and said, “Return to Balaq, and this is what you say.”

6And he returned to him and saw him standing by his burnt offering, he and all the heads of Mo’aḇ.

7And he took up his proverb and said, “Balaq the sovereign of Mo’aḇ has brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east. ‘Come, curse Ya‛aqoḇ for me, and come, rage at Yisra’ĕl!’

8“How do I curse whom Ěl has not cursed? And how do I rage at whom יהוה has not raged?

9“For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I observe him. Look, a people dwelling alone, not reckoning itself among the nations.

10“Who shall count the dust of Ya‛aqoḇ, and the number of one-fourth of Yisra’ĕl? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!”

11And Balaq said to Bil‛am, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have kept on blessing!”

12And he answered and said, “Should I not take heed to speak what יהוה has put in my mouth?”

13And Balaq said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you see them. You only see the extremity but not all of them. Curse them for me from there.”

14And he took him to the field of Tsophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

15And he said to Balaq, “Stand here by your burnt offering while I meet over there.”

16And יהוה came to Bil‛am, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Go back to Balaq, and say this.”

17So he went to him and saw him standing by his burnt offering, and the heads of Mo’aḇ with him. And Balaq asked him, “What did יהוה say?”

18And he took up his proverb and said, “Rise up, Balaq, and hear! Listen to me, son of Tsippor!

19“Ěl is not a man, to lie; nor a son of man, to repent! Has He said, and would He not do it; or spoken, and would not confirm it?

20“See, I have received, to bless. And He has blessed, and I do not reverse it.

21“He has not looked upon wickedness in Ya‛aqoḇ, nor has He seen trouble in Yisra’ĕl. יהוה his Elohim is with him, and the shout of a Sovereign is in him.

22“Ěl who brought them out of Mitsrayim, is for them like the horns of a wild ox.

23“For there is no sorcery against Ya‛aqoḇ, nor is there any divination against Yisra’ĕl. Now it is said to Ya‛aqoḇ and to Yisra’ĕl, ‘What has Ěl done!’

24“Look, a people rises like a lioness, and lifts itself up like a lion; it lies not down until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.”

25And Balaq said to Bil‛am, “Do not curse them at all, nor bless them at all!”

26And Bil‛am answered and said to Balaq, “Have I not spoken to you, saying, ‘All that יהוה speaks, that I do’?”

27And Balaq said to Bil‛am, “Please come, let me take you to another place. It might be right in the eyes of Elohim that you curse them for me from there.”

28And Balaq took Bil‛am to the top of Pe‛or, that overlooks the wasteland.

29And Bil‛am said to Balaq, “Build seven alters for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”

30And Balaq did as Bil‛am had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

NUMBERS 24

1And when Bil‛am saw that it pleased יהוה to bless Yisra’ĕl, he did not go as at other times, to seek to use sorcery, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

2And Bil‛am lifted up his eyes and saw Yisra’ĕl encamped according to their tribes. And the Spirit of Elohim came upon him.

3And he took up his proverb and said, “The saying of Bil‛am, son of Be‛or, and the saying of the man whose eyes are opened,

4the saying of him who hears the words of Ěl, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down, with eyes opened wide:

5“How good are your tents, O Ya‛aqoḇ, your dwellings, O Yisra’ĕl!

6“Like wadis that stretch out, like gardens by a river, like aloes planted by יהוה, like cedars beside waters.

7“He makes water flow from his buckets, and his seed is in many waters. His sovereign is higher than Ag̅ag̅, and his reign is exalted.

8“Ěl who brought him out of Mitsrayim is for them like the horns of a wild ox; he devours nations, his enemies; and he breaks their bones, and with his arrows he smites.

9“He bowed down, he lay down like a lion. And, like a lion, who would rouse him? Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you.”

10Then the displeasure of Balaq burned against Bil‛am, and he struck his hands together. Balaq then said to Bil‛am, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, and see, you have kept on blessing, these three times!

11“And now flee to your place. I said I would greatly esteem you, and see, יהוה has kept you back from esteem.”

12And Bil‛am said to Balaq, “Did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying,

13‘If Balaq should give me his house filled with silver and gold, I am unable to go beyond the word of יהוה, to do either good or evil of my own heart. What יהוה speaks, that I speak’?

14“And now, see, I am going to my people. Come, let me advise you what this people is going to do to your people in the latter days.”

15And he took up his proverb and said, “The saying of Bil‛am, son of Be‛or, and the saying of the man whose eyes are opened,

16the saying of him who hears the words of Ěl, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down, with eyes opened wide:

17“I see Him, but not now; I observe Him, but not near. A Star shall come out of Ya‛aqoḇ, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Yisra’ĕl, and shall smite the corners of Mo’aḇ, and shall destroy all the sons of Shĕth.

18“And Eḏom shall be a possession; and Sĕ‛ir shall be a possession – enemies – and Yisra’ĕl is doing mightily.

19“And out of Ya‛aqoḇ One shall rule and destroy the remnant from Ar.”

20He then looked on Amalĕq, and he took up his proverb and said, “Amalĕq was first among the nations, but his latter end is to perish forever.”

21He then looked on the Qĕynites, and he took up his proverb and said, “Firm is your dwelling place, and your nest is set in the rock,

22but Qayin is to be burned. Till when does Asshur keep you captive?”

23And he took up his proverb and said, “Oh, who does live when Ěl does this?

24And ships shall come from the coast of Kittim, and they shall afflict Asshur and afflict Ěḇer, and so shall Amalĕq, and he also perishes.”

25And Bil‛am arose and left, and returned to his place. And Balaq also went his way.

NUMBERS 25

1And Yisra’ĕl dwelt in Shittim, and the people began to whore with the daughters of Mo’aḇ,

2and they invited the people to the slaughterings of their mighty ones, and the people ate and bowed down to their mighty ones.

3Thus Yisra’ĕl was joined to Ba‛al Pe‛or, and the displeasure of יהוה burned against Yisra’ĕl.

4And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang them up before יהוה, before the sun, so that the burning displeasure of יהוה turns away from Yisra’ĕl.”

5And Mosheh said to the judges of Yisra’ĕl, “Each one of you slay his men who were joined to Ba‛al Pe‛or.”

6And see, one of the children of Yisra’ĕl came and brought to his brothers a Miḏyanite woman before the eyes of Mosheh and before the eyes of all the congregation of the children of Yisra’ĕl, who were weeping at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

7And when Pineḥas, son of El‛azar, son of Aharon the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation and took a spear in his hand,

8and he went after the man of Yisra’ĕl into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Yisra’ĕl, and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague among the children of Yisra’ĕl came to a stop.

9And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

10And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,

11“Pineḥas, son of El‛azar, son of Aharon the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Yisra’ĕl, because he was ardent with My ardour in their midst, so that I did not consume the children of Yisra’ĕl in My ardour.

12“Therefore say, ‘See, I am giving him My covenant of peace,

13and it shall be to him and to his seed after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was ardent for his Elohim, and made atonement for the children of Yisra’ĕl.’ ”

14And the name of the Yisra’ĕlite who was killed, who was killed with the Miḏyanite woman, was Zimri, son of Salu, a leader of a father’s house among the Shim‛onites.

15And the name of the Miḏyanite woman who was killed was Kozbi the daughter of Tsur. He was head of the people of a father’s house in Miḏyan.

16And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,

17“Distress the Miḏyanites! And you shall smite them,

18for they distressed you with their tricks with which they deceived you in the matter of Pe‛or and in the matter of Kozbi, the daughter of a leader of Miḏyan, their sister, who was killed in the day of the plague because of Pe‛or.”