³ After some time Cain brought some of his harvest and gave it as an offering to the Lord. ^4 (A)Then Abel brought the first lamb born to one of his sheep, killed it, and gave the best parts of it as an offering. The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, ⁵ but he rejected Cain and his offering. Cain became furious, and he scowled in anger. ⁶ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why that scowl on your face? ⁷ If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling;^[a] but because you have done evil, sin is crouching at your door. It wants to rule you, but you must overcome it.”

^8 (B)Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let's go out in the fields.”^[b] When they were out in the fields, Cain turned on his brother and killed him.

^11 (A)How terrible for them! They have followed the way that Cain took. For the sake of money they have given themselves over to the error that Balaam committed. They have rebelled as Korah rebelled, and like him they are destroyed.

The King of Moab Sends for Balaam

22 The Israelites moved on and set up camp in the plains of Moab east of the Jordan and opposite Jericho.

² When the king of Moab, Balak son of Zippor, heard what the Israelites had done to the Amorites and how many Israelites there were, ³ he and all his people became terrified. ⁴ The Moabites said to the leaders of the Midianites, “This horde will soon destroy everything around us, like a bull eating the grass in a pasture.” So King Balak ^5 (A)sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor near the Euphrates River in the land of Amaw. They brought him this message from Balak: “I want you to know that a whole nation has come from Egypt; its people are spreading out everywhere and threatening to take over our land. ⁶ They outnumber us, so please come and put a curse on them for me. Then perhaps we will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. I know that when you pronounce a blessing, people are blessed, and when you pronounce a curse, they are placed under a curse.”

⁷ So the Moabite and Midianite leaders took with them the payment for the curse, went to Balaam, and gave him Balak's message. ⁸ Balaam said to them, “Spend the night here, and tomorrow I will report to you whatever the Lord tells me.” So the Moabite leaders stayed with Balaam.

⁹ God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these people that are staying with you?”

¹⁰ He answered, “King Balak of Moab has sent them to tell me ¹¹ that a people who came from Egypt has spread out over the whole land. He wants me to curse them for him, so that he can fight them and drive them out.”

¹² God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them, and do not put a curse on the people of Israel, because they have my blessing.”

¹³ The next morning Balaam went to Balak's messengers and said, “Go back home; the Lord has refused to let me go with you.” ¹⁴ So they returned to Balak and told him that Balaam had refused to come with them.

¹⁵ Then Balak sent a larger number of leaders, who were more important than the first. ¹⁶ They went to Balaam and gave him this message from Balak: “Please don't let anything prevent you from coming to me! ¹⁷ I will reward you richly and do anything you say. Please come and curse these people for me.”

¹⁸ But Balaam answered, “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not disobey the command of the Lord my God in even the smallest matter. ¹⁹ But please spend the night, as the others did, so that I may learn whether or not the Lord has something else to tell me.”

²⁰ That night God came to Balaam and said, “If these men have come to ask you to go with them, get ready and go, but do only what I tell you.” ²¹ So the next morning Balaam saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite leaders.

Balaam and His Donkey

²² God was angry that Balaam was going, and as Balaam was riding along on his donkey, accompanied by his two servants, the angel of the Lord stood in the road to bar his way. ²³ When the donkey saw the angel standing there holding a sword, it left the road and turned into the fields. Balaam beat the donkey and brought it back onto the road. ²⁴ Then the angel stood where the road narrowed between two vineyards and had a stone wall on each side. ²⁵ When the donkey saw the angel, it moved over against the wall and crushed Balaam's foot against it. Again Balaam beat the donkey. ²⁶ Once more the angel moved ahead; he stood in a narrow place where there was no room at all to pass on either side. ²⁷ This time, when the donkey saw the angel, it lay down. Balaam lost his temper and began to beat the donkey with his stick. ²⁸ Then the Lord gave the donkey the power of speech, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you? Why have you beaten me these three times?”

²⁹ Balaam answered, “Because you have made a fool of me! If I had a sword, I would kill you.”

³⁰ The donkey replied, “Am I not the same donkey on which you have ridden all your life? Have I ever treated you like this before?”

“No,” he answered.

³¹ Then the Lord let Balaam see the angel standing there with his sword; and Balaam threw himself face downward on the ground. ³² The angel demanded, “Why have you beaten your donkey three times like this? I have come to bar your way, because you should not be making this journey.^{[a] 33} But your donkey saw me and turned aside three times. If it hadn't, I would have killed you and spared the donkey.”

³⁴ Balaam replied, “I have sinned. I did not know that you were standing in the road to oppose me; but now if you think it is wrong for me to go on, I will return home.”

³⁵ But the angel said, “Go on with these men, but say only what I tell you to say.” So Balaam went on with them.

^11 (A)How terrible for them! They have followed the way that Cain took. For the sake of money they have given themselves over to the error that Balaam committed. They have rebelled as Korah rebelled, and like him they are destroyed.

The Rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram

16 ^(A)1-2 Korah son of Izhar, from the Levite clan of Kohath, rebelled against the leadership of Moses. He was joined by three members of the tribe of Reuben—Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—and by 250 other Israelites, well-known leaders chosen by the community. ³ They assembled before Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! All the members of the community belong to the Lord, and the Lord is with all of us. Why, then, Moses, do you set yourself above the Lord's community?”

⁴ When Moses heard this, he threw himself on the ground and prayed. ⁵ Then he said to Korah and his followers, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show us who belongs to him; he will let the one who belongs to him, that is, the one he has chosen, approach him at the altar. ^6-7 Tomorrow morning you and your followers take fire pans, put live coals and incense on them, and take them to the altar. Then we will see which of us the Lord has chosen. You Levites are the ones who have gone too far!”

⁸ Moses continued to speak to Korah. “Listen, you Levites! ⁹ Do you consider it a small matter that the God of Israel has set you apart from the rest of the community, so that you can approach him, perform your service in the Lord's Tent, and minister to the community and serve them? ¹⁰ He has let you and all the other Levites have this honor—and now you are trying to get the priesthood too! ¹¹ When you complain against Aaron, it is really against the Lord that you and your followers are rebelling.”

¹² Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, but they said, “We will not come! ¹³ Isn't it enough that you have brought us out of the fertile land of Egypt to kill us here in the wilderness? Do you also have to lord it over us? ¹⁴ You certainly have not brought us into a fertile land or given us fields and vineyards as our possession, and now you are trying to deceive us. We will not come!”

¹⁵ Moses became angry and said to the Lord, “Do not accept any offerings these men bring. I have not wronged any of them; I have not even taken one of their donkeys.”

¹⁶ Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and your 250 followers must come to the Tent of the Lord's presence; Aaron will also be there. ¹⁷ Each of you will take his fire pan, put incense on it, and then present it at the altar.” ¹⁸ So they each took their fire pans, put live coals and incense on them, and stood at the entrance of the Tent with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹ Then Korah gathered the whole community, and they stood facing Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the Tent. Suddenly the dazzling light of the Lord's presence appeared to the whole community, ²⁰ and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹ “Move back from these people, and I will destroy them immediately.”

²² But Moses and Aaron bowed down with their faces to the ground and said, “O God, you are the source of all life. When one of us sins, do you become angry with the whole community?”

²³ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁴ “Tell the people to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵ Then Moses, accompanied by the leaders of Israel, went to Dathan and Abiram. ²⁶ He said to the people, “Get away from the tents of these wicked men and don't touch anything that belongs to them. Otherwise, you will be wiped out with them for all their sins.” ²⁷ So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at the entrance of their tents, with their wives and children. ²⁸ Moses said to the people, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it is not by my own choice that I have done them. ²⁹ If these men die a natural death without some punishment from God, then the Lord did not send me. ³⁰ But if the Lord does something unheard of, and the earth opens up and swallows them with all they own, so that they go down alive to the world of the dead, you will know that these men have rejected the Lord.”

³¹ As soon as he had finished speaking, the ground under Dathan and Abiram split open ³² and swallowed them and their families, together with all of Korah's followers and their possessions. ³³ So they went down alive to the world of the dead, with their possessions. The earth closed over them, and they vanished. ³⁴ All the people of Israel who were there fled when they heard their cry. They shouted, “Run! The earth might swallow us too!”

³⁵ Then the Lord sent a fire that blazed out and burned up the 250 men who had presented the incense.