³ One day, Cain gave part of his harvest to the Lord, ^4 (A) and Abel also gave an offering to the Lord. He killed the first-born lamb from one of his sheep and gave the Lord the best parts of it. The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, ⁵ but not with Cain and his offering. This made Cain so angry that he could not hide his feelings.

⁶ The Lord said to Cain:

What's wrong with you? Why do you look so angry? ⁷ If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling.^[a] But you did the wrong thing, and now sin is waiting to attack you like a lion. Sin wants to destroy you, but don't let it!

^8 (B) Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let's go for a walk.”^[b] And when they were out in a field, Cain attacked and killed him.

22 Israel moved from there to the hills of Moab, where they camped across the Jordan River from the town of Jericho.

King Balak of Moab Hires Balaam To Curse Israel

^2-3 When King Balak^[a] of Moab and his people heard how many Israelites there were and what they had done to the Amorites, he and the Moabites were terrified and panicked. ⁴ They said to the Midianite leaders, “That huge mob of Israelites will wipe out everything in sight, like a bull eating grass in a field.”

So King Balak ^5 (A) sent a message to Balaam son of Beor who lived among his relatives in the town of Pethor near the Euphrates River. It said:

I need your help. A large group of people has come here from Egypt and settled near my territory. ⁶ They are too powerful for us to defeat, so would you come and place a curse on them? Maybe then we can run them off. I know that anyone you bless will be successful, but anyone you curse will fail.

⁷ The leaders of Moab and Midian left and took along money to pay Balaam. When they got to his house, they gave him Balak's message.

⁸ “Spend the night here,” Balaam replied, “and tomorrow I will tell you the Lord's answer.” So the officials stayed at his house.

⁹ During the night, God asked Balaam, “Who are these people at your house?”

¹⁰ “They are messengers from King Balak of Moab,” Balaam answered. “He sent them ¹¹ to ask me to go to Moab and put a curse on the people who have come there from Egypt. They have settled everywhere around him, and he wants to run them off.”

¹² But God replied, “Don't go with Balak's messengers. I have blessed those people who have come from Egypt, so don't curse them.”

¹³ The next morning, Balaam said to Balak's officials, “Go on back home. The Lord says I cannot go with you.”

¹⁴ The officials left and told Balak that Balaam refused to come.

¹⁵ Then Balak sent a larger group of officials, who were even more important than the first ones. ¹⁶ They went to Balaam and told him that Balak had said, “Balaam, if you come to Moab, ¹⁷ I'll pay you very well and do whatever you ask. Just come and place a curse on these people.”

¹⁸ Balaam answered, “Even if Balak offered me a palace full of silver or gold, I wouldn't do anything to disobey the Lord my God. ¹⁹ You are welcome to spend the night here, just as the others did. I will find out if the Lord has something else to say about this.”

²⁰ That night, God said, “Balaam, I'll let you go to Moab with Balak's messengers, but do only what I say.”

²¹ So Balaam got up the next morning and saddled his donkey, then left with the Moabite officials.

Balaam and His Donkey Meet an Angel

²² Balaam was riding his donkey to Moab, and two of his servants were with him. But God was angry that Balaam had gone, so one of the Lord's angels stood in the road to stop him. ²³ When Balaam's donkey saw the angel standing there with a sword, it walked off the road and into an open field. Balaam had to beat the donkey to get it back on the road.

²⁴ Then the angel stood between two vineyards, in a narrow path with a stone wall on each side. ²⁵ When the donkey saw the angel, it walked so close to one of the walls that Balaam's foot scraped against the wall. Balaam beat the donkey again.

²⁶ The angel moved once more and stood in a spot so narrow that there was no room for the donkey to go around. ²⁷ So it just lay down. Balaam lost his temper, then picked up a stick and whacked the donkey.

²⁸ When that happened, the Lord told the donkey to speak, and it asked Balaam, “What have I done that made you beat me three times?”

²⁹ “You made me look stupid!” Balaam answered. “If I had a sword, I'd kill you here and now!”

³⁰ “But you're my owner,” answered the donkey, “and you've ridden me many times. Have I ever done anything like this before?”

“No,” Balaam admitted.

³¹ Just then, the Lord let Balaam see the angel standing in the road, holding a sword, and Balaam bowed down.

³² The angel said, “You had no right to treat your donkey like that! I was the one who blocked your way, because I don't think you should go to Moab.^{[b] 33} If your donkey had not seen me and stopped those three times, I would have killed you and let the donkey live.”

³⁴ Balaam replied, “I was wrong. I didn't know you were trying to stop me. If you don't think I should go, I'll return home at once.”

³⁵ “It's all right for you to go,” the Lord's angel answered. “But you must say only what I tell you.” So Balaam went on with Balak's officials.

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram Lead a Rebellion

16 ^1-2 (A)(B) Korah son of Izhar was a Levite from the Kohathite clan. One day he called together Dathan, Abiram, and On^[a] from the Reuben tribe, and the four of them decided to rebel against Moses. So they asked 250 respected Israelite leaders for their support, and together they went to Moses ³ and Aaron and said, “Why do you think you're so much better than everyone else? We're part of the Lord's holy people, and he's with all of us. What makes you think you're the only ones in charge?”

⁴ When Moses heard this, he knelt down to pray.^{[b] 5} Then he said to Korah and his followers:

Tomorrow morning the Lord will show us the person he has chosen to be his priest, and that man will faithfully serve him.

^6-7 Korah, here is what you and your followers must do: Get some fire pans, fill them with coals and incense, and place them near the sacred tent. And the man the Lord chooses will be his priest.^[c] Korah, this time you Levites have gone too far!

^8-9 You know that the God of Israel has chosen you Levites from all Israel to serve him by being in charge of the sacred tent and by helping the community to worship in the proper way. What more do you want? ¹⁰ The Lord has given you a special responsibility, and now, Korah, you think you should also be his priest. ¹¹ You and your followers have rebelled against the Lord, not against Aaron.

¹² Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, but they sent back this message: “We won't come! ¹³ It's bad enough that you took us from our rich farmland in Egypt to let us die here in the desert. Now you also want to boss us around! ¹⁴ You keep promising us rich farmlands with fertile fields and vineyards—but where are they? Stop trying to trick these people. No, we won't come to see you.”

¹⁵ Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Don't listen to these men! I haven't done anything wrong to them. I haven't taken as much as a donkey.”

¹⁶ Then he said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and your followers must go with Aaron to the Lord's sacred tent. ¹⁷ Each of you take along your fire pan with incense in it and offer the incense to the Lord.”

¹⁸ The next day the men placed incense and coals in their fire pans and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the sacred tent. ¹⁹ Meanwhile, Korah had convinced the rest of the Israelites to rebel against their two leaders.

When that happened, the Lord appeared in all his glory ²⁰ and said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹ “Get away from the rest of the Israelites so I can kill them at once!”

²² But the two men bowed down and prayed, “Our God, you gave these people life. Why would you punish everyone here when only one man has sinned?”

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

²⁵ Moses walked over to Dathan and Abiram, and the other leaders of Israel followed. ²⁶ Then Moses warned the people, “Get away from the tents of these sinful men! Don't touch anything that belongs to them or you'll be wiped out.” ²⁷ So everyone moved away from those tents, except Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their families.

²⁸ Moses said to the crowd, “The Lord has chosen me and told me to do these things—it wasn't my idea. And here's how you will know: ²⁹ If these men die a natural death, it means the Lord hasn't chosen me. ³⁰ But suppose the Lord does something that has never been done before. For example, what if a huge crack appears in the ground, and these men and their families fall into it and are buried alive, together with everything they own? Then you will know they have turned their backs on the Lord!”

³¹ As soon as Moses said this, the ground under the men opened up ^32-33 and swallowed them alive, together with their families and everything they owned. Then the ground closed back up, and they were gone.

³⁴ The rest of the Israelites heard their screams, so they ran off, shouting, “We don't want that to happen to us!”

³⁵ Suddenly the Lord sent a fire that burned up the 250 men who had offered incense to him.