Genesis 19:37

⁹The LORD said to me, “Don’t bother Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you any of his land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.”

¹The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. ²Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. ³Moab was very afraid of the people, because they were many. Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. ⁴Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this multitude will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.

⁵He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt. Behold, they cover the surface of the earth, and they are staying opposite me. ⁶Please come now therefore, and curse this people for me; for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall prevail, that we may strike them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

⁷The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand. They came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak.

⁸He said to them, “Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the LORD shall speak to me.” The princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

⁹God came to Balaam, and said, “Who are these men with you?”

¹⁰Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has said to me, ¹¹‘Behold, the people that has come out of Egypt covers the surface of the earth. Now, come curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them, and shall drive them out.’”

¹²God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”

¹³Balaam rose up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your land; for the LORD refuses to permit me to go with you.”

¹⁴The princes of Moab rose up, and they went to Balak, and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.”

¹⁵Balak again sent princes, more, and more honorable than they. ¹⁶They came to Balaam, and said to him, “Balak the son of Zippor says, ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me, ¹⁷for I will promote you to very great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Please come therefore, and curse this people for me.’”

¹⁸Balaam answered the servants of Balak, “If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more. ¹⁹Now therefore please stay here tonight as well, that I may know what else the LORD will speak to me.”

²⁰God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak to you, that you shall do.”

²¹Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. ²²God’s anger burned because he went; and the LORD’s angel placed himself in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³The donkey saw the LORD’s angel standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the donkey turned out of the path, and went into the field. Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the path. ²⁴Then the LORD’s angel stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. ²⁵The donkey saw the LORD’s angel, and she thrust herself to the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. He struck her again.

²⁶The LORD’s angel went further, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. ²⁷The donkey saw the LORD’s angel, and she lay down under Balaam. Balaam’s anger burned, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

²⁸The LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”

²⁹Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have mocked me, I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would have killed you.”

³⁰The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long until today? Was I ever in the habit of doing so to you?” He said, “No.”

³¹Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the LORD’s angel standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face. ³²The LORD’s angel said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me. ³³The donkey saw me, and turned away before me these three times. Unless she had turned away from me, surely now I would have killed you, and saved her alive.”

³⁴Balaam said to the LORD’s angel, “I have sinned; for I didn’t know that you stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases you, I will go back again.”

³⁵The LORD’s angel said to Balaam, “Go with the men; but you shall only speak the word that I shall speak to you.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

³⁶When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him to the City of Moab, which is on the border of the Arnon, which is in the utmost part of the border. ³⁷Balak said to Balaam, “Didn’t I earnestly send for you to summon you? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I not able indeed to promote you to honor?”

³⁸Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come to you. Have I now any power at all to speak anything? I will speak the word that God puts in my mouth.”

³⁹Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath Huzoth. ⁴⁰Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes who were with him. ⁴¹In the morning, Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal; and he saw from there part of the people.

¹Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them, even as many as had not known all the wars of Canaan; ²only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at least those who knew nothing of it before: ³the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath. ⁴They were left to test Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the LORD’s commandments, which he commanded their fathers by Moses. ⁵The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁶They took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods. ⁷The children of Israel did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth. ⁸Therefore the LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight years. ⁹When the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. ¹⁰The LORD’s Spirit came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and the LORD delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. His hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim. ¹¹The land had rest forty years, then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

¹²The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. ¹³He gathered the children of Ammon and Amalek to himself; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees. ¹⁴The children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. ¹⁵But when the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a savior for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit^[+] in length; and he wore it under his clothing on his right thigh. ¹⁷He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸When Ehud had finished offering the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. ¹⁹But he himself turned back from the stone idols that were by Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” The king said, “Keep silence!” All who stood by him left him.

²⁰Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. Ehud said, “I have a message from God to you.” He arose out of his seat. ²¹Ehud put out his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body. ²²The handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the blade, for he didn’t draw the sword out of his body; and it came out behind. ²³Then Ehud went out onto the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room on him, and locked them.

²⁴After he had gone, his servants came and saw that the doors of the upper room were locked. They said, “Surely he is covering his feet^[+] in the upper room.” ²⁵They waited until they were ashamed; and behold, he didn’t open the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them, and behold, their lord had fallen down dead on the floor.

²⁶Ehud escaped while they waited, passed beyond the stone idols, and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷When he had come, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he led them.

²⁸He said to them, “Follow me; for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” They followed him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and didn’t allow any man to pass over. ²⁹They struck at that time about ten thousand men of Moab, every strong man and every man of valor. No man escaped. ³⁰So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. Then the land had rest eighty years.

³¹After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad. He also saved Israel.

¹⁹When you come near the border of the children of Ammon, don’t bother them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession, because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.”

¹⁰Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”

¹Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. ²He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, but not like his father and like his mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made. ³Nevertheless he held to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. He didn’t depart from them.

⁴Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder; and he supplied the king of Israel with one hundred thousand lambs and the wool of one hundred thousand rams. ⁵But when Ahab was dead, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ⁶King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time, and mustered all Israel. ⁷He went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab to battle?” He said, “I will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”

⁸Then he said, “Which way shall we go up?” Jehoram answered, “The way of the wilderness of Edom.”

⁹So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom, and they marched for seven days along a circuitous route. There was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. ¹⁰The king of Israel said, “Alas! For the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”

¹¹But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there a prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD by him?” One of the king of Israel’s servants answered, “Elisha the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah, is here.”

¹²Jehoshaphat said, “The LORD’s word is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

¹³Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother.” The king of Israel said to him, “No, for the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”

¹⁴Elisha said, “As the LORD of Armies lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward you, nor see you. ¹⁵But now bring me a musician.” When the musician played, the LORD’s hand came on him. ¹⁶He said, “The LORD says, ‘Make this valley full of trenches.’ ¹⁷For the LORD says, ‘You will not see wind, neither will you see rain, yet that valley will be filled with water, and you will drink, both you and your livestock and your other animals. ¹⁸This is an easy thing in the LORD’s sight. He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand. ¹⁹You shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.’”

²⁰In the morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

²¹Now when all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all who were able to put on armor, young and old, and stood on the border. ²²They rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. ²³They said, “This is blood. The kings are surely destroyed, and they have struck each other. Now therefore, Moab, to the plunder!”

²⁴When they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and struck the Moabites, so that they fled before them; and they went forward into the land attacking the Moabites. ²⁵They beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land each man cast his stone, and filled it. They also stopped all the springs of water and cut down all the good trees, until in Kir Hareseth all they left was its stones; however the men armed with slings went around it and attacked it. ²⁶When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too severe for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew a sword, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not. ²⁷Then he took his oldest son who would have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. There was great wrath against Israel; and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.

²⁹Woe to you, Moab! You are undone, people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites.

³An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the LORD’s assembly; even to the tenth generation shall no one belonging to them enter into the LORD’s assembly forever,

¹After this, David struck the Philistines and subdued them; and David took the bridle of the mother city out of the hand of the Philistines. ²He defeated Moab, and measured them with the line, making them to lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive. The Moabites became servants to David, and brought tribute.

³David also struck Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his dominion at the River. ⁴David took from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand footmen. David hamstrung the chariot horses, but reserved enough of them for one hundred chariots. ⁵When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck twenty two thousand men of the Syrians. ⁶Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought tribute. The LORD gave victory to David wherever he went. ⁷David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸From Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a great quantity of bronze.

⁹When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had struck all the army of Hadadezer, ¹⁰then Toi sent Joram his son to King David to greet him and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and struck him; for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. Joram brought with him vessels of silver, vessels of gold, and vessels of bronze. ¹¹King David also dedicated these to the LORD, with the silver and gold that he dedicated of all the nations which he subdued— ¹²of Syria, of Moab, of the children of Ammon, of the Philistines, of Amalek, and of the plunder of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

¹³David earned a reputation when he returned from striking down eighteen thousand men of the Syrians in the Valley of Salt. ¹⁴He put garrisons in Edom. Throughout all Edom, he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became servants to David. The LORD gave victory to David wherever he went.

¹⁵David reigned over all Israel; and David executed justice and righteousness for all his people. ¹⁶Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder, ¹⁷Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, Seraiah was scribe, ¹⁸Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief ministers.

¹When Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he didn’t go, as at the other times, to use divination, but he set his face toward the wilderness. ²Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came on him. ³He took up his parable, and said, “Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eyes are open says; ⁴he says, who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open: ⁵How goodly are your tents, Jacob, and your dwellings, Israel! ⁶As valleys they are spread out, as gardens by the riverside, as aloes which the LORD has planted, as cedar trees beside the waters. ⁷Water shall flow from his buckets. His seed shall be in many waters. His king shall be higher than Agag. His kingdom shall be exalted. ⁸God brings him out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. He shall consume the nations his adversaries, shall break their bones in pieces, and pierce them with his arrows. ⁹He couched, he lay down as a lion, as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? Everyone who blesses you is blessed. Everyone who curses you is cursed.”

¹⁰Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have altogether blessed them these three times. ¹¹Therefore, flee to your place, now! I thought to promote you to great honor; but, behold, the LORD has kept you back from honor.”

¹²Balaam said to Balak, “Didn’t I also tell your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, ¹³‘If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond the LORD’s word, to do either good or bad from my own mind. I will say what the LORD says’? ¹⁴Now, behold, I go to my people. Come, I will inform you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days.”

¹⁵He took up his parable, and said, “Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eyes are open says; ¹⁶he says, who hears the words of God, knows the knowledge of the Most High, and who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open: ¹⁷I see him, but not now. I see him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel, and shall strike through the corners of Moab, and crush all the sons of Sheth. ¹⁸Edom shall be a possession. Seir, his enemy, also shall be a possession, while Israel does valiantly. ¹⁹Out of Jacob shall one have dominion, and shall destroy the remnant from the city.”

²⁰He looked at Amalek, and took up his parable, and said, “Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter end shall come to destruction.”

²¹He looked at the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, “Your dwelling place is strong. Your nest is set in the rock. ²²Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, until Asshur carries you away captive.”

²³He took up his parable, and said, “Alas, who shall live when God does this? ²⁴But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim. They shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber. He also shall come to destruction.”

²⁵Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.