Numbers 21 - 22, Romans 6, Psalm 99 — Legacy Standard Bible

Destruction of Canaanite Cities

21Then the Canaanite, the king of ^aArad, who lived in the ¹Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of ²Atharim, and he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. ²So ^aIsrael made a vow to Yahweh and said, “If You will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.” ³Then Yahweh heard the voice of Israel and gave the Canaanites over; so they devoted them and their cities to destruction. Thus the name of the place was called ¹^,^aHormah.

⁴Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way to the ¹Red Sea, to ^ago around the land of Edom; and the ²people became impatient on the way. ⁵And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “^aWhy have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no ¹food and no water, and ²^,^bwe loathe this miserable food.”

The Bronze Serpent

⁶^aSo Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people, and ^bthey bit the people so that ^cmany people of Israel died. ⁷^aThen the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you; ^bpray to Yahweh, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses prayed for the people. ⁸Then Yahweh said to Moses, “¹Make a ^afiery serpent and set it on a standard; and it will be that everyone who is bitten and looks at it, will live.” ⁹And Moses made a ^abronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it happened, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

¹⁰^aThen the sons of Israel set out and camped in Oboth. ¹¹They then set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness which is opposite Moab, east toward the sunrise. ¹²^aFrom there they set out and camped in ¹Wadi Zered. ¹³From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the border of the Amorites, ^afor the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Yahweh, “Waheb in Suphah,And the wadis of the Arnon,

¹⁵And the slope of the wadisThat extends to the site of ^aAr,And leans to the border of Moab.”

¹⁶^aAnd from there they continued to ¹Beer, that is the well where Yahweh said to Moses, “Assemble the people, that I may give them water.”

¹⁷^aThen Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing to it!

¹⁸“The well, which the leaders dug,Which the nobles of the people carved out,With the scepter and with their staffs.” And from the wilderness they continued to Mattanah,

¹⁹and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the land of Moab, at the top of Pisgah which overlooks the ¹wasteland.

Sihon and Og Struck Down

²¹^aThen Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, ²²“^aLet me pass through your land. We will not turn off into field or vineyard; we will not drink water from wells. We will go by the king’s highway until we have passed through your border.” ²³^aBut Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border. So Sihon gathered all his people and went out to meet Israel in the wilderness and came to ^bJahaz and fought against Israel. ²⁴Then ^aIsrael ¹struck him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the sons of Ammon; for the ^bborder of the sons of Ammon was ²Jazer. ²⁵And Israel took all these cities, and ^aIsrael lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all her ¹towns. ²⁶For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites. Now it was he who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon. ²⁷Therefore those who use proverbs say, “Come to Heshbon! Let it be built!So let the city of Sihon be established.

²⁸“^aFor a fire went forth from Heshbon,A flame from the town of Sihon;It devoured ^bAr of Moab,The ¹^,^cdominant ²heights of the Arnon.²⁹“^aWoe to you, O Moab!You perish, O people of ^bChemosh!^cHe has given his sons as fugitives,^dAnd his daughters into captivity,To an Amorite king, Sihon.³⁰“But we have cast them down,Heshbon perishes as far as ^aDibon,And we have made desolate even to Nophah,Which reaches to Medeba.”

³¹Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. ³²And Moses sent to spy out ^aJazer, and they captured its towns and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

³³^aThen they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out to meet them, he and all his people for battle at ^bEdrei. ³⁴But Yahweh said to Moses, “^aDo not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” ³⁵So ^athey struck down him and his sons and all his people, until ¹there was no survivor remaining for him; and they possessed his land.

Balak Sends for Balaam

22^aThen the sons of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho.

²And ^aBalak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. ³^aSo Moab was in great fear because of the people, for they were numerous; and Moab was in dread of the sons of Israel. ⁴Then Moab said to the elders of ^aMidian, “Now this assembly will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. ⁵So he sent messengers to ^aBalaam the son of Beor, at ^bPethor, which is near the ¹River, in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people came out of Egypt; behold, they cover the surface of the land, and they are settled opposite me. ⁶“^aSo now, please come, ^bcurse this people for me since they are too ¹mighty for me; perhaps I may be able to strike them down and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

⁷So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian went away with the fees for ^adivination in their hand; and they came to Balaam and spoke Balak’s words to him. ⁸And he said to them, “Spend the night here, and I will bring word back to you as Yahweh may speak to me.” And the leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam. ⁹Then ^aGod came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?” ¹⁰And Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent word to me, ¹¹‘Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt, and they cover the surface of the land; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I may be able to fight against them and drive them out.’” ¹²And God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them; ^ayou shall not curse the people, for they ^bare blessed.” ¹³So Balaam arose in the morning and said to Balak’s leaders, “Go back to your land, for Yahweh has refused to allow me to go with you.” ¹⁴And the leaders of Moab arose and came to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to go with us.”

¹⁵Then Balak again sent leaders, more numerous and more ¹honorable than ²the former. ¹⁶And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, ‘Let nothing, I beg you, withhold you from coming to me; ¹⁷for I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you say to me. ^aPlease come then, curse this people for me.’” ¹⁸And Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, “^aThough Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, to trespass the ¹command of Yahweh my God. ¹⁹“So now, please, you also stay here tonight, and I will know what else Yahweh will speak to me.” ²⁰And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise up and go with them; but ^aonly the word which I speak to you shall you do.”

²¹^aSo Balaam arose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the leaders of Moab.

Balaam’s Donkey and the Angel

²²But God was angry because he was going, ^aso the angel of Yahweh took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two young men were with him. ²³Then the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, and the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field; so Balaam struck the donkey to turn it back into the way. ²⁴Then the angel of Yahweh stood in a narrow path of the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. ²⁵And the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, and it pressed itself to the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall, so he struck it again. ²⁶And the angel of Yahweh passed on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right hand or the left. ²⁷Then the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh and lay down under Balaam; so ^aBalaam was angry and struck the donkey with his stick. ²⁸And ^aYahweh opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” ²⁹Then Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a mockery of me! If there had been a sword in my hand, ^aI would have killed you by now.” ³⁰And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you?” And he said, “No.”

³¹Then Yahweh opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw ^athe angel of Yahweh standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed his head down ¹and prostrated himself to the ground. ³²And the angel of Yahweh said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out as an adversary because your way was ¹^,^acontrary to me. ³³“And the donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times. If it had not turned aside from me, I would surely have killed you just now, and let it live.” ³⁴And Balaam said to the angel of Yahweh, “^aI have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the way against me. So now, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” ³⁵But the angel of Yahweh said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but ^ayou shall speak only the word which I ¹tell you.” So Balaam went along with the leaders of Balak.

³⁶Then Balak heard that Balaam was coming and went out to meet him at the city of Moab, which is on the Arnon border, ¹at the end of the border. ³⁷Then Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not urgently send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I indeed unable to honor you?” ³⁸So Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come now to you! ^aAm I able to speak anything at all? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I shall speak.” ³⁹And Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. ⁴⁰And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent some to Balaam and the leaders who were with him.

⁴¹Then it happened in the morning that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to ¹^,^athe high places of Baal, and he saw from there the ^bend of the camp of the people.

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6^aWhat shall we say then? Are we to ^bcontinue in sin so that grace may increase? ²^aMay it never be! How shall we who ^bdied to sin still live in it? ³Or do you not know that all of us who were ^abaptized into ^bChrist Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴Therefore we were ^aburied with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was ^braised from the dead through the ^cglory of the Father, so we too might walk in ^dnewness of life. ⁵For ^aif we have become ¹united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be ²in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶knowing this, that our ^aold man was ^bcrucified with Him, in order that our ^cbody of sin might be ¹done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; ⁷for ^ahe who has died has been ¹justified from sin.

⁸Now ^aif we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹knowing that Christ, having been ^araised from the dead, ¹is never to die again; ^bdeath no longer is master over Him. ¹⁰For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹Even so consider yourselves to be ^adead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹²Therefore do not let sin ^areign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, ¹³and do not go on ^apresenting your members to sin as ¹instruments of unrighteousness, but ^bpresent yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as ²instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴For ^asin shall not ^bbe master over you, for ^cyou are not under law but ^dunder grace.

Slaves of Righteousness

¹⁵What then? ^aShall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? ^bMay it never be! ¹⁶Do you not ^aknow that when you go on presenting yourselves to someone as ^bslaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of ^csin ¹leading to death, or of obedience ²leading to righteousness? ¹⁷But ^athanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that ^bpattern of teaching to which you were ^cgiven over, ¹⁸and having been ^afreed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹^aI am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just ^bas you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, ¹leading to further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, ²leading to sanctification.

²⁰For ^awhen you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹Therefore what ¹^,^abenefit were you then having ²from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is ^bdeath. ²²But now having been ^afreed from sin and ^benslaved to God, you have your ¹^,^cbenefit, ²leading to sanctification, and ^dthe end, eternal life. ²³For the wages of ^asin is death, but the gracious gift of God is ^beternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Holy Is Yahweh Our God

99^aYahweh reigns, let the peoples tremble;He ^bsits enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth quake!²Yahweh is ^agreat in Zion,And He is ^bexalted above all the peoples.³Let them praise Your ^agreat and awesome name;^bHoly is ¹He.⁴¹The strength of the King ^aloves ²justice;You have established ³^,^bequity;You have ^cdone ⁴justice and righteousness in Jacob.⁵^aExalt Yahweh our GodAnd ^bworship at the footstool of His feet;^cHoly is He.⁶^aMoses and Aaron were among His ^bpriests,And ^cSamuel was among those who ^dcalled on His name;They ^ewould call upon Yahweh and He would answer them.⁷He ^awould speak to them in the pillar of cloud;They ^bkept His testimoniesAnd the statute that He gave them.⁸O Yahweh our God, You ^aanswered them;You were a ^bforgiving God to them,And yet an ^cavenger of their evil deeds.⁹Exalt Yahweh our GodAnd worship at His holy mountain,For holy is Yahweh our God.