⁵ sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor,^(A) who was at Pethor, near the Euphrates River,^(B) in his native land. Balak said:

⁷ The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination.^(A) When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said.

⁴ For they did not come to meet you with bread and water^(A) on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam^(B) son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim^[a](C) to pronounce a curse on you.^(D)

² because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam^(A) to call a curse down on them.^(B) (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.)^(C)

¹¹ Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain;^(A) they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error;^(B) they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.^(C)