Balaam's Third Oracle
1When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go, as at sother times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness. 2And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel tcamping tribe by tribe. And uthe Spirit of God came upon him, 3and he vtook up his discourse and said,
“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,1
4the oracle of him who hears the words of God,
who sees the vision of the Almighty,
wfalling down with his eyes uncovered:
5How lovely are your tents, O Jacob,
your encampments, O Israel!
6Like palm groves2 that stretch afar,
like gardens beside a river,
xlike aloes ythat the Lord has planted,
like cedar trees beside the waters.
7Water shall flow from his buckets,
and his seed shall be zin many waters;
his king shall be higher than aAgag,
and bhis kingdom shall be exalted.
8God brings him out of Egypt
and is for him like the chorns of the wild ox;
he shall deat up the nations, his adversaries,
and shall ebreak their bones in pieces
and fpierce them through with his arrows.
9He crouched, he lay down like a lion
and glike a lioness; who will rouse him up?
hBlessed are those who bless you,
and cursed are those who curse you.”
10And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he istruck his hands together. And Balak said to Balaam, j“I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times. 11Therefore now flee to your own place. I said, k‘I will certainly honor you,’ but the Lord has held you back from honor.” 12And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, 13l‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad mof my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak’? 14And now, behold, I am going to my people. Come, nI will let you know what this people will do to your people oin the latter days.”
Balaam's Final Oracle
15pAnd he took up his discourse and said,
“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,
16the oracle of him who hears the words of God,
and knows the knowledge of qthe Most High,
who sees the vision of the Almighty,
rfalling down with his eyes uncovered:
17sI see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near:
ta star shall come out of Jacob,
and ua scepter shall rise out of Israel;
it shall vcrush the forehead3 of Moab
and break down all the sons of Sheth.
18wEdom shall be dispossessed;
xSeir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed.
Israel is doing valiantly.
19And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion
and destroy the survivors of cities!”
20Then he looked on Amalek and ytook up his discourse and said,
“Amalek was the first among the nations,
zbut its end is utter destruction.”
21And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his discourse and said,
“Enduring is your dwelling place,
and your nest is set in the rock.
22Nevertheless, Kain shall be burned
when Asshur takes you away captive.”
23And he took up his discourse and said,
“Alas, who shall live when God does this?
24But ships shall come from aKittim
and shall afflict Asshur and bEber;
and he too cshall come to utter destruction.”
25Then Balaam rose and dwent back to his place. And Balak also went his way.
The Partial Kingdom: God’s Place
Numbers 1:1 – Joshua 24:33 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 45:22 • ID: 2388Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.