Balaam’s First Oracle
1 And Balaam said to Balak, i“Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam joffered on each altar a bull and a ram. 3 And Balaam said to Balak, k“Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come lto meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height, 4 mand God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 5 And the Lord nput a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 6 And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering. 7 And Balaam otook up his discourse and said,
“From pAram Balak has brought me,
the king of Moab qfrom the eastern mountains:
‘Come, rcurse Jacob for me,
and come, denounce Israel!’
8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
9 For from the top of the crags sI see him,
from the hills I behold him;
behold, ta people dwelling alone,
and unot counting itself among the nations!
10 vWho can count the dust of Jacob
or number the fourth part1 of Israel?
Let me die wthe death of the upright,
and let my end be like his!”
11 And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? xI took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” 12 And he answered and said, y“Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”
Balaam’s Second Oracle
13 And Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there.” 14 And he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, zand built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 15 Balaam said to Balak, a“Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord over there.” 16 And the Lord met Balaam and bput a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.” 17 And he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?” 18 And Balaam took up his discourse and said,
“Rise, Balak, and hear;
give ear to me, O son of Zippor:
19 cGod is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
20 Behold, I received a command to bless:
dhe has blessed, and eI cannot revoke it.
21 fHe has not beheld misfortune in Jacob,
nor has he seen trouble in Israel.
The Lord their God is with them,
and the shout of a king is among them.
22 gGod brings them out of Egypt
and is for them like hthe horns of the wild ox.
23 For there is no enchantment against Jacob,
no idivination against Israel;
now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,
j‘What has God wrought!’
24 Behold, a people! kAs a lioness it rises up
and as a lion it lifts itself;
lit does not lie down until it has devoured the prey
and drunk the blood of the slain.”
25 And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.” 26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, m‘All that the Lord says, that I must do’?” 27 And Balak said to Balaam, n“Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of oPeor, which overlooks pthe desert.2 29 And Balaam said to Balak, q“Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 30 rAnd Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
Balaam’s Third Oracle
1 When 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. 2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel tcamping tribe by tribe. And uthe Spirit of God came upon him, 3 and he vtook up his discourse and said,
“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,3
4 the oracle of him who hears the words of God,
who sees the vision of the Almighty,
wfalling down with his eyes uncovered:
5 How lovely are your tents, O Jacob,
your encampments, O Israel!
6 Like palm groves4 that stretch afar,
like gardens beside a river,
xlike aloes ythat the Lord has planted,
like cedar trees beside the waters.
7 Water 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.
8 God 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.
9 He 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.”
10 And 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. 11 Therefore now flee to your own place. I said, k‘I will certainly honor you,’ but the Lord has held you back from honor.” 12 And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, 13 l‘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’? 14 And 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
15 pAnd he took up his discourse and said,
“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,
16 the 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:
17 sI 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 forehead5 of Moab
and break down all the sons of Sheth.
18 wEdom shall be dispossessed;
xSeir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed.
Israel is doing valiantly.
19 And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion
and destroy the survivors of cities!”
20 Then he looked on Amalek and ytook up his discourse and said,
“Amalek was the first among the nations,
zbut its end is utter destruction.”
21 And 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.
22 Nevertheless, Kain shall be burned
when Asshur takes you away captive.”
23 And he took up his discourse and said,
“Alas, who shall live when God does this?
24 But ships shall come from aKittim
and shall afflict Asshur and bEber;
and he too cshall come to utter destruction.”
25 Then Balaam rose and dwent back to his place. And Balak also went his way.
Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause
A Maskil1 of rAsaph.
1 O God, why do you scast us off forever?
Why does your anger tsmoke against uthe sheep of your pasture?
2 vRemember your congregation, which you have wpurchased of old,
which you have xredeemed to be ythe tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, zwhere you have dwelt.
3 Direct your steps to athe perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Your foes have broared in the midst of your meeting place;
cthey set up their down signs for esigns.
5 They were like those who swing faxes
in a forest of trees.2
6 And all its gcarved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They hset your sanctuary on fire;
they iprofaned jthe dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8 They ksaid to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our lsigns;
mthere is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, nis the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11 Why odo you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment3 and destroy them!
12 Yet pGod my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You qdivided the sea by your might;
you rbroke the heads of sthe sea monsters4 on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of tLeviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You usplit open springs and brooks;
you vdried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established wthe heavenly lights and the sun.
17 You have xfixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made ysummer and winter.
18 zRemember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and aa foolish people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your bdove to the wild beasts;
cdo not forget the life of your poor forever.
20 Have regard for dthe covenant,
for ethe dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not fthe downtrodden gturn back in shame;
let hthe poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, O God, idefend your cause;
jremember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
kthe uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!
1 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2 xThey will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, ythe hour is coming when zwhoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do these things abecause they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But bI have said these things to you, that when ctheir hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, dbecause I was with you. 5 But now eI am going to him who sent me, and fnone of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, gsorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for hif I do not go away, ithe Helper will not come to you. But jif kI go, lI will send him to you. 8 mAnd when he comes, he will nconvict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, obecause they do not believe in me; 10 pconcerning righteousness, qbecause I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 rconcerning judgment, because the ruler of this world sis judged.
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When tthe Spirit of truth comes, uhe will vguide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but wwhatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will xglorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 yAll that the Father has is mine; ztherefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Your Sorrow Will Turn into Joy
16 a“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and bagain a little while, and you will see me.” 17 So csome of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, d‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, e‘because I am going to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? fWe do not know what he is talking about.” 19 gJesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, hyou will weep and lament, but ithe world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but jyour sorrow will turn into joy. 21 kWhen a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 lSo also you have sorrow now, but mI will see you again, and nyour hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 oIn that day you will pask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, qwhatever you ask of the Father in my name, rhe will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. sAsk, and you will receive, tthat your joy may be full.
I Have Overcome the World
25 “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. uThe hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27 vfor the Father himself loves you, because wyou have loved me and xhave believed that I came from God.1 28 yI came from the Father and have come into the world, and now zI am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
29 His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not ausing figurative speech! 30 Now we know that byou know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that cyou came from God.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 Behold, dthe hour is coming, indeed it has come, when eyou will be scattered, each to his own home, and fwill leave me alone. gYet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have said these things to you, that hin me you may have peace. iIn the world you will have jtribulation. But ktake heart; lI have overcome the world.”
