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

¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the Moabite plains by the Jordan near Jericho. ²  He said:

Then Israel ¹  went through the desert and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab. They traveled east of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon River; ²  they did not go through Moabite territory (the Arnon was Moab’s border).

and said to him, “This is what Jephthah says, ‘Israel did not steal ¹  the land of Moab and the land of the Ammonites.

Furthermore, ¹  on the hill east of Jerusalem ²  Solomon built a high place ³  for the detestable Moabite god Chemosh ⁴  and for the detestable Ammonite god Milcom. ⁵ 

Indeed, the cries of distress echo throughout Moabite territory; their wailing can be heard in Eglaim and Beer Elim. ¹ 

At the fords of the Arnon ¹  the Moabite women are like a bird that flies about when forced from its nest. ² 

For Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites. Now he had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all of his land from his control, ¹  as far as the Arnon.

Then David went from there to Mizpah in Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay ¹  with you until I know what God is going to do for me.”

Indeed, the waters of Dimon ¹  are full of blood! Indeed, I will heap even more trouble on Dimon. ²  A lion will attack ³  the Moabite fugitives and the people left in the land.

On all the housetops in Moab and in all its public squares there will be nothing but mourning. For I will break Moab like an unwanted jar. I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹ 

I will stretch out my hand against them ¹  and make the land a desolate waste from the wilderness to Riblah, ²  in all the places where they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord!”

I am taking the kingdom from him ¹  because they have ²  abandoned me and worshiped the Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They have not followed my instructions ³  by doing what I approve and obeying my rules and regulations, like Solomon’s father David did. ⁴ 

The king ruined the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Destruction, ¹  that King Solomon of Israel had built for the detestable Sidonian goddess Astarte, the detestable Moabite god Chemosh, and the horrible Ammonite god Milcom.