Portions: Numbers 23-26

Then Balak said to Balaam,
"Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!"
Balaam answered,
"Did I not tell you
I must do whatever the Lord says?"
(Numbers 23:25-26)

When Balaam looked out
and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe,
the Spirit of God came upon him
and he uttered his oracle:
"How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob,
your dwelling places O Israel!
"Like valleys they spread out,
like gardens beside a river,
like aloes planted by the Lord,
like cedars beside the waters."
(Numbers 24: 2-3,5-6)

Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped;
but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.
(Numbers 25:8-9)

These are the ones counted
by Moses and Eleazar the priest
when they counted the Israelites
on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.
Not one of them was among those counted
by Moses and Aaron the priest
when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai.
For the Lord had told those Israelites
they would surely die in the desert,
and not one of them was left
except Caleb son of Jephunneh
and Joshua son of Nun.
(Numbers 26:63-65)