So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fee for divination in their hand. They came to Balaam and reported ¹  to him the words of Balak.

He replied to them, “Stay ¹  here tonight, and I will bring back to you whatever word the Lord may speak to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

So Balaam got up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your land, ¹  for the Lord has refused to permit me to go ²  with you.”

Balaam replied ¹  to the servants of Balak, “Even if Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I could not transgress the commandment ²  of the Lord my God ³  to do less or more.

God came to Balaam that night, and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, get up and go with them; but the word that I will say to you, that you must do.”

And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed herself into the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he beat her again. ¹ 

The donkey said to Balaam, “Am not I your donkey that you have ridden ever since I was yours until this day? Have I ever attempted ¹  to treat you this way?” ²  And he said, “No.”

Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood against me in the road. ¹  So now, if it is evil in your sight, ²  I will go back home.” ³ 

When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at a city of Moab which was on the border of the Arnon at the boundary of his territory.

Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send again and again ¹  to you to summon you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you?” ² 

Balaam said to Balak, “Look, I have come to you. Now, am I able ¹  to speak ²  just anything? I must speak ³  only the word that God puts in my mouth.”

Balaam said to Balak, “Station yourself ¹  by your burnt offering, and I will go off; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he reveals to me ²  I will tell you.” ³  Then he went to a deserted height. ⁴ 

Then Balaam ¹  uttered ²  his oracle, saying, “Balak, the king of Moab, brought me ³  from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, ‘Come, pronounce a curse on Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel.’ ⁴ 

So Balak brought Balaam ¹  to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, ²  where ³  he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

When Balaam ¹  came to him, he was still standing by his burnt offering, along with the princes of Moab. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”

¹ When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, ²  he did not go as at the other times ³  to seek for omens, ⁴  but he set his face ⁵  toward the wilderness.

They killed the kings of Midian in addition to those slain – Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba – five Midianite kings. ¹  They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. ² 

Look, these people through the counsel of Balaam caused the Israelites to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor – which resulted in the plague among the community of the Lord!

for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired ¹  Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you.

My people, recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you, ¹  how Balaam son of Beor responded to him. Recall how you journeyed from Shittim to Gilgal, so you might acknowledge that the Lord has treated you fairly.” ²