19 So the two messengers arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting at the city gate. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and knelt down in front of them with his face to the ground. 2 Then he said, “Listen, my masters: Come with me to your slave’s home and wash your feet and stay the night. Then you can get up early and continue on your way.”

But they said, “No, rather we’ll just spend the night in the street.” 3 However, Lot insisted, so they followed him off the main road and went into his house. Then he prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

4 However, before they went to bed, the men of Sodom surrounded the house—there were young and old from all parts of the city—5 and they called out to Lot, “Where are the men who came to your place tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can ‘use’ them.”[ref]

6 So Lot went out to them at the entrance of the house and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “My brothers, don’t do this evil. 8 Listen, I’ve got two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you and you can treat them however you like. But don’t do anything to these men, because they’ve entered my house and so I’m responsible for them.”

9 But they insisted, “Stand back!” Then they said to each other, “This guy came to stay with us, and now he’s judging us. We’ll treat you worse than them!” Then they started pushing hard against Lot and came closer to break down the door. 10 But the two visitors reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house and shut the door again. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the entrance of the house with blindness—all of them from the lowly to the prominent men—so that they gave up trying to find the door.[ref]

12 Then the men said to Lot, “Who else belongs to you here, a son-in-law or your sons or your daughters or anyone else who belongs to you in the city? Take them out from this place, 13 because we’re about to destroy it. The people have repeatedly cried out to Yahweh, so he’s sent us to destroy the city.”

14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his future sons-in-law who were engaged to his daughters, and he told them, “Hurry, get out of this place, because Yahweh is going to destroy the city!” But they thought he was just joking.

15 At dawn the next day, the two messengers urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, so that all of you won’t be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 16 When Lot hesitated, because of Yahweh’s mercy for him, the men grabbed his hand and his wife’s hand and the hands of their daughters, and led them out beyond the edge of the city.[ref] 17 At that point one of them told Lot, “Flee for your lives! Don’t turn around and look behind you and don’t stop anywhere down in the plain. Escape up to the hills so you don’t get swept away!”

18 But Lot argued, “Not right now, my masters. 19 Listen, you’ve been kind to me and show us mercy by saving my life, but I won’t be able to make it to the hills because the disaster will overtake me and I’ll die. 20 Listen, there’s a small town nearby that I could flee to. Let me escape there. It’s only small. Then my life would be saved.”

21 “Okay then,” the man replied, “I’ll also grant your request about this so I won’t overthrow the town that you’re talking about. 22 Hurry up, escape there, because I am not able to do a thing until you go there.”

That’s why they renamed the town to ‘Zoar’ (which means ‘small’).

23 The sun had already risen by the time Lot and family reached Zoar. 24 Then Yahweh rained burning sulfur down onto Sodom and Amorah (Gomorrah),[ref]

12 The one who looked like a human also told me: At that time Mika’el (Michael), the powerful prince who stands guard over your people, will become active. There’ll be a time of distress such as never has been since there was a nation until that time, but at that time your people will be rescued—everyone whose name is found written in the book.[ref]

22 Then the Israelis set off for the Moav plains, and they camped there across the river from Yeriho (Jericho). 2 The Moabite King Balak (Tsipor’s son), saw everything that Yisrael had done to the Amorites, 3 and when he realised that the Israelis were very numerous, the Moabite people became sick with fear. 4 and they told the elders at Midyan, “Now all that lot will devour everything that’s around us, just like a cow completely cleans out a green field.”

Now Tsipor’s son Balak was Moav’s king at that time, 5 and he sent messengers to Beor’s son Bileam (Balaam) at Petor (which was their tribal land near the Euphrates river). He requested help, saying, “Listen, there’s a population here that came out from Egypt. Wow, they’ve covered the entire surface in this region and they’re living opposite me.[ref] 6 So now please come and curse this people group for me because they are more numerous than us, then perhaps I’ll be able to attack them and drive them out of the area, because I know that anyone you bless will be blessed, and those who you curse will be cursed.”

7 So the elders from Moav and from Midyan departed carrying the fees for divination with them, and they went to Bileam and passed Balak’s words on to him. 8 Bileam told them, “Stay here tonight, and in the morning, I’ll bring you back answer, depending on what Yahweh tells me,” and so the Moav leaders stayed there with Bileam.

9 That night, God came to Bileam and asked, “Who are those men with you?”

10 “Tsipor’s son, King Balak from Moav sent me a message,” Bileam replied. 11 “He said that shockingly a people group has come out of Egypt and has covered his region. He wants me to go and curse them for him, so that he’ll be able to attack them and drive them out of that area.”

12 Then God told Bileam, “Don’t go with them—you mustn’t curse those people, because they’re blessed.” 13 The next morning, Bileam went over and told Balak’s messengers, “Go back to your place, because Yahweh has refused to let me go with you.” 14 So the Moav leaders stood up and went back to King Balak, and told him, “Bileam refused to come with us.”

15 However, Balak sent back a larger group of leaders who were even more senior than the first ones, 16 and they went and told Bileam, “Tsipor’s son King Balak says, ‘Please don’t refuse to come here, 17 because I’ll honour you highly and do anything that you tell me to. Just please come and curse this population for me.’ ”

18 “Even if Balak gave me a houseful of gold and sliver,” Bileam told Balak’s servant, “I still couldn’t go against Yahweh’s instructions, even if it was just to do something small. 19 However, please do stay here tonight, and I’ll find out if Yahweh might have anything else to say to me.”

20 That night, God came to Bileam and told him, “If those men have come to summon you, get ready and go with them, except that you must only give the message that I’ll tell you.” 21 So in the morning, Bileam got ready and saddled his donkey, and went with the Moav leaders.

22 However, God got angry because he’d gone, and Yahweh’s messenger stood in the middle of the road to block them. As Bileam rode on his donkey, accompanied by his two servants, 23 the donkey saw Yahweh’s messenger standing there holding a sword in the middle of the road and turned off the road and went into a field. So Bileam whacked the donkey and forced it back onto the road. 24 Then Yahweh’s messenger moved to a place where the road was very narrow, with vineyard walls on each side of the road. 25 When the donkey saw Yahweh’s messenger, it squeezed close by the wall, and in doing so, squashed Bileam’s foot against the wall, so he whacked it again. 26 Then Yahweh’s messenger went past again and stood in a narrow place on the road where there was no room to get past on either side. 27 This time, when the donkey saw the messenger, it lay down on the ground with Bileam sitting on top of it. Bileam got very angry and whacked the donkey again with his staff. 28 Then Yahweh enabled the donkey to speak, and it asked Bileam, “What did I do to you that you beat me these three times?”

29 “Because you’ve been messing me around!” Bileam shouted. “If only I’d been carrying a sword, then I would have killed you!”

30 “Aren’t I your donkey that you’ve ridden all your life?” the donkey asked Bileam. “Have I ever done anything like that to you before?”

And he said, “No.”

31 Then Yahweh uncovered Bileam’s eyes and he saw Yahweh’s messenger standing in the middle of the road with his sword in his hand, and Bileam fell to his knees and kept bowing his face to the ground. 32 Yahweh’s angel asked him, “Why did you strike you donkey those three times? Listen, I came personally to oppose you because you’re choosing a very dangerous path as far as I’m concerned. 33 Your donkey saw me and avoided me those three times—if it hadn’t I certainly would have killed you already, but I would have let the donkey live.”

34 “Yes, I’ve done wrong,” Bileam said to Yahweh’s messenger, “because I didn’t know that you were waiting for me there on the road. But now, if you don’t want me to continue, I’ll return home again.”

35 “Continue on with those men,” Yahweh’s angel told Bileam, “but make sure that you only pass on the message that I give you.” So Bileam carried on with Balak’s leaders.

36 When King Balak heard that Bileam was coming, he went out to meeting him at a city in Moav that was on his border beside the Arnon river. 37 He asked Bileam, “Didn’t I send an urgent message to summon you? Why didn’t you come then? Did you think I couldn’t pay you enough?”

38 “Look, I’ve come now,” Bileam answered Balak, “but can I say whatever I want? No, I have to deliver whatever message God gives me.” 39 So then Bileam went to Kiryat-Hutsot with Balak, 40 where Balak sacrificed sheep and cattle, and gave some of the meat to Bileam and to the leaders who were with them. 41 The next morning, Balak took Bileam uphill to Bamot-Baal, and from there they could see the outskirts of the Israeli camp.

23 Then Bileam said to King Balak, “Get them to build seven altars for me here, and prepare me seven bulls and seven rams.”

2 So Balak did what Bileam had instructed, then the two of them offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 Then Bileam told Balak, “You stand here beside your burnt offering, and I’ll move away. Perhaps Yahweh will want to meet me, and then I’ll tell you whatever he shows me.” Then he went to a bare hilltop 4 where God met him, and Bileam told him, “I organised seven altars and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.”

5 Then Yahweh gave Bileam a message and told him, “Go back to Balak and tell him that.” 6 So he went back to Balak who was still standing by his burnt offering along with all of Moav’s officials.

7 So Bileam gave his pronouncement,

“It’s Balak has brought me here from Aram.

≈ Moav’s king summoned me from the eastern mountains.

‘Go curse Yakov (Jacob) for me,

≈ and go denounce Yisrael.’

8 How can I curse those who God hasn’t cursed?

≈ How can I denounce those who Yahweh hasn’t denounced?

9 Yes, I can see them from the top of those rocks.

≈ I look at them from the hills.

Look, a population that lives by itself.

≈ It doesn’t count itself among the other nations.

10 Who can count the dust that Yakov leaves behind?

≈ Who can even count a quarter of the Israelis?

Let me die like those honourable people,

≈ and let my end be like theirs.”

11 But Balak demanded from Bileam, “What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and blast it all—you’ve actually blessed them!”

12 “Shouldn’t I be careful to only say what Yahweh tells me?” Bileam answered back.

13 Then King Balak told Bileam, “Please come with me to another place that you’ll be able to see them from. You won’t be able to see all of them, only the edge of that large group, but you’ll will curse Yisrael for me from there.” 14 So he took Bileam to a field at the top of Mt. Pisgah, and he built seven altars and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

15 Bileam said to the king, “You stand here beside your burnt offering, while I go over there so Yahweh can meet me.”

16 Then Yahweh met with Bileam and gave him a message and told him, “Go back to Balak, and give him that message.” 17 So he returned to him where he was standing with the leaders from Moav beside the altar, and Balak asked him, “What did Yahweh say?”

18 Then Bileam gave his speech,

“Look here, Balak, and listen.

≈ Pay attention to me, son of Tsipor.

19 God doesn’t lie because he’s not a human being,

≈ and he’s not a mortal who might change his mind.

Whatever he’s said, he’ll do it.

≈ Anything he promised, he’ll make it happen.

20 Listen, I’ve received a command to bless.

≈ Yes, he’s decided to bless and I can’t reverse it.

21 Yahweh hasn’t considered hardship for Yakov (Jacob),

≈ and he hasn’t seen trouble for Yisrael (Israel).

His god Yahweh is with that people group,

and the king’s shout is over him.

22 God brought them out of Egypt (Heb. Mitsrayim),

→ giving them strength like a wild bull’s horns.

23 No, there’s no spell against Yakov,

≈ and no divination against Yisrael.

People will talk about Yakov/Yisrael,

→ saying look what God has done.

24 That population stands up like a lioness,

≈ and like a lion, it lifts itself up.

It won’t lie down until it’s devour its prey

and drunk the blood of those it killed.”

25 Then King Balak scolded Bileam, “Even if you won’t curse them, definitely don’t bless them!”

26 “Didn’t I already tell you,” Bileam answered Balak, “that I can only pronounce what Yahweh tells me to.”

27 Then King Balak told Bileam, “Come with me. I’ll take you to another place. Perhaps it will pleased God if you curse them for me from there.” 28 So Balak took him to the top of Mt. Peor that faces down to the wilderness, 29 and again Bileam told him, “Build seven altars and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.” 30 So Balak followed those instructions and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

24 By now, Bileam had realised that Yahweh wanted to bless the Israelis, so he didn’t use his usual divinations but instead, he just looked towards the wilderness. 2 He looked up and saw Yisrael in their tents laid out by tribe. Then God’s spirit came onto him, 3 and he made his pronouncement,

“This is the declaration of Bileam, son of Beor—

≈ the utterance of a man whose eyes are open.

4 The declaration of someone who heard God’s message,

≈ someone who sees the all-powerful one’s vision,

who bows to the ground with his eyes wide open.

5 Yes Yakov, your tents look good.

≈ Yes Yisrael, the places where you’re living:

6 They stretch out like a riverbed.

≈ Like gardens beside a river.

Like palms that Yahweh has planted,

≈ Like cedar trees beside the waters.

7 Water will spill over the top of his buckets,

and his descendants will flow out like water.

Yisrael’s king will be greater than King Agag,

and his kingdom will become honoured.

8 God is bringing him here from Egypt

with power like the horns of a wild bull.

He’ll devastate those nations that oppose him.

He’ll break their bones, and his arrows will pierce them.

9 He crouched—lying down like a lion or a lioness.

Who will rouse him?

Those who bless, you will be blessed,

^ but those who curse you, will be cursed.[ref]

10 Then King Balak got very angry with Bileam, and he banged his hands together and said angrily, “I called you to curse my enemies, and blast you, you’ve actually blessed them three times now! 11 Now get back to where you came from! I said that I’d honour you very well, but man, Yahweh has kept you from any honour!”

12 But Bileam replied, “Didn’t I also tell the messengers that you sent to me that 13 even if you gave me a house full of gold and silver, I wouldn’t be able to say anything other than what Yahweh tells me—whether good or evil? Whatever Yahweh tells me, that’s what I have to say. 14 So yes, I’ll go back home now, but first, allow me to tell you what that people group will do to your people in the future.”

15 Then Bileam gave this pronouncement to Balak,

“This is the declaration of Bileam, son of Beor—

≈ the utterance of a man whose eyes are open.

16 The statement from someone who hears God’s messages,

≈ and the one who receives knowledge from the highest one,

who sees visions from the powerful one.

≈ The one who falls to his knees with his eyes opened.

17 I see him, but not now.

≈ I’ll look at him, but he’s not close.

A star has marched out from Yakov (Jacob),

≈ and a staff has risen from Yisrael (Israel).

He will crush Moav’s corners,

≈ and destroy all of Shet’s (Seth’s) descendants.

18 Edom will become their possession,

≈ as will his enemy, Seir.

Yisrael will project strength.

19 A ruler will come from Yakov,

→ and destroy the city’s survivors.”

20 Then Bileam looked towards Amalek and made this pronouncement,

“Amalek is the first of the nations,

^ but its end will be destruction.”

21 Then he looked towards the Kenites and made this pronouncement,

“Your dwelling is permanent,

≈ and your nest is set in the cliffs.

22 but you Kenites will be destroyed

when Ashhur (the Assyrians) take you captive.”

23 Then finally, Bileam made this pronouncement,

“Oh dear, who can survive when God does all that?

24 Ships will come from the Kittim coast (Cyprus),

and they’ll damage Asshur and Ever,

but they themselves will be destroyed as well.”

25 Then Bileam packed up and went home, and King Balak also went on his way.

16 Now Korah (son of Yitshar, son of Kehat, son of Levi) along with Datan and Aviram (sons of Eliav) and On (son of Pelet)[ref] 2 rebelled against Mosheh along with 250 respected, Israeli community leaders. 3 They got together and challenged Mosheh and Aharon, “You think you’re great but the entire community is sacred and has Yahweh among us, so why do you consider yourselves more important than Yahweh’s community?”

4 When Mosheh heard that, he fell to his knees with his face to the ground 5 and responded to Korah and his supporters, “Tomorrow morning Yahweh will show who’s sacred and who belongs to him. Yahweh will present his chosen leader. make known who is to him and the holy one, and he will present to him, and whom he chooses he will present to him. 6 So Korah and supporters, bring incense burners 7 and put burning coals and incense in them, and bring them to Yahweh’s presence tomorrow. Then the man that Yahweh chooses will be the sacred one. It’s you Levites who think you’re great.”

8 Then Mosheh told Korah, “You Levites, please listen. 9 Isn’t it enough for you all that Yisrael’s god separated you from the rest of the Israeli community to present you to him to serve in Yahweh’s residence and to stand in front of the gatherings to minister to them? 10 Yahweh has presented you and your brothers, the other Levites to approach him. Are you all wanting the priesthood now also? 11 So it’s Yahweh that you and your group are opposing, not really Aharon that you’re all grumbling about.”

12 Then Mosheh summoned Eliav’s sons Datan and Aviram but they refused, “We won’t come. 13 Isn’t it enough that you brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us here in the wilderness, without also making yourself the ruler over us? 14 What’s more, you didn’t bring us into a land flowing with milk and honey or give us an inheritance of land and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of those Kanaanites so that we can defeat them? No, we won’t come.”

15 That made Mosheh very angry and he told Yahweh, “Don’t accept their grain offering. I’ve never taken even one donkey from them or done anything bad to any of them.”

16 Then Mosheh told Korah, “You and all your group, must appear in front of Yahweh tomorrow, as will Aharon. 17 Each man must bring his pan with incense burning in it and present it to Yahweh—all 250 of you as well as Aharon. 18 So the next day, they all brought their pans with burning coals and incense in them, and they stood at the entrance of the sacred tent, as did Mosheh and Aharon. 19 plus Korah had also assembled the entire community to oppose Mosheh and Aharon at the entrance to the sacred tent. Then Yahweh’s brilliance appeared to all the community 20 and Yahweh warned Mosheh and Aharon, 21 “Get away from all those people, then I can destroy them in an instant.”

22 However, Mosheh and Aharon fell to their knees with their faces to the ground and interceded, “God, you are the god who gives life to everything. Will you be angry at the entire community because of the sin of one man?” 23 So Yahweh told Mosheh, 24 “Tell the people to keep back from the homes of Korah, Datan, and Aviram.”

25 Then Mosheh walked to the homes of Datan and Aviram, and the Israeli elders followed behind him, 26 and he told the people, “Please keep back from the tents of these wicked men, and don’t touch anything of theirs, in case you get caught up in their disobedience.” 27 So the rest of the Israelis kept back from the residences of Korah, Datan, and Aviram. Meanwhile, Datan and Aviram had come out of their tents, and were standing at the entrances with their wives and children.

28 Then Mosheh said, “This is how you’ll all known that it was Yahweh who selected me for this role—it’s never been something that I aspired to: 29 If all these men die a natural death like most people, then Yahweh didn’t choose me, 30 but if Yahweh does something new and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them and their homes and tents and all their possessions, and if they then go down alive into their grave, then you’ll all know that it was because these men rejected Yahweh.”

31 As soon as Mosheh had finished speaking, the ground below those men split open 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their homes and every man who backed Korah along with all their property. 33 They went down alive to their grave, along with everything they owned, and then the ground covered over them and they vanished from the community. 34 All the people who were around them fled away screaming because they were afraid of getting swallowed by the earth as well.

35 Then Yahweh sent fire that consumed the 250 men who were presenting incense.