When Balaam lifted up his eyes, he saw Israel camped tribe by tribe; ¹  and the Spirit of God came upon him.

In fact, what other great nation has a god so near to them like the Lord our God whenever we call on him?

There you will worship gods made by human hands – wood and stone that can neither see, hear, eat, nor smell.

Who is there from the entire human race ¹  who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of the fire as we have, and has lived?

for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you.

and the sign or wonder should come to pass concerning what he said to you, namely, “Let us follow other gods” – gods whom you have not previously known – “and let us serve them.”

some evil people ¹  have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, ²  saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before). ³ 

by serving other gods and worshiping them – the sun, ¹  moon, or any other heavenly bodies which I have not permitted you to worship. ² 

how they met you along the way and cut off all your stragglers in the rear of the march when you were exhausted and tired; they were unafraid of God. ¹ 

But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving ¹  you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship ²  them.

But I will certainly ¹  hide myself at that time because of all the wickedness they ²  will have done by turning to other gods.

They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known; to new gods who had recently come along, gods your ancestors ¹  had not known about.

“See now that I, indeed I, am he!” says the Lord, ¹  “and there is no other god besides me. I kill and give life, I smash and I heal, and none can resist ²  my power.

Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord’s shrine.

When a leader died, the next generation ¹  would again ²  act more wickedly than the previous one. ³  They would follow after other gods, worshiping them ⁴  and bowing down to them. They did not give up ⁵  their practices or their stubborn ways.

God chose new leaders, ¹  then fighters appeared in the city gates; ²  but, I swear, not a shield or spear could be found, ³  among forty military units ⁴  in Israel.

That night God did as he asked. ¹  Only the fleece was dry and the ground around it was covered with dew.

But the olive tree said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my oil, which is used to honor gods and men, just to sway above the other trees!’ ¹ 

But the grapevine said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my wine, which makes gods and men so happy, just to sway above the other trees!’ ¹ 

God sent a spirit to stir up hostility ¹  between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem. He made the leaders of Shechem disloyal ²  to Abimelech.