And God spoke to Balaam in the night, and said to him, If the men come to call thee, rise up and go with them; but what I shall say to thee that shalt thou do. So Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.

Balaam was riding along with his two servants, when the ass saw an angel standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. The ass turned out into the field to let the stranger pass, and Balaam who saw not the angel, struck the poor beast to turn her back into the road again.

Presently Balaam came to a road that led through vineyards; and there was a wall on either side. In this narrow place the ass saw the angel once more, and in order that both might have room to pass, the beast crowded close up against the wall, and in doing so crushed her master's foot, and Balaam struck her another blow.

The angel went farther on and stood in a narrow place where there was no space to turn to the right or the left. And as soon as the ass saw the angel she fell down in the road with Balaam on her back. This made Balaam very angry, and he smote the ass with his staff.

Then the Lord gave the ass the power of speech; and she said to Balaam, What have I done to thee that thou hast struck me these three times? Balaam said, Because thou hast not minded me: I would there were a sword in my hand, for now would I kill thee.

The ass said to Balaam, Am I not thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was able to bear thee? and did I ever do so to thee before?

Balaam answered, No; and as he spoke his own eyes were opened, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with a drawn sword in his hand. And Balaam bowed down with his face to the ground.

Wherefore hast thou Behold, I went out to

The angel of the Lord said to him, struck thine ass these three times? turn thee back, because thou art going the wrong way. And the ass saw me, and turned from me three times. If she had not done so, I should surely have slain thee and saved her alive.

Balaam said to the angel, I have sinned, for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now, therefore, if this thing be evil in thy sight I will go back to my home again.

The angel told Balaam to go on with the men, but to speak only the words that God should put into his mouth.

When Balak heard that Balaam was on his way to Moab, he went out as far as Arnon to meet him. And as soon as he saw the prophet he began to chide him for not coming before, and said to Balaam, Didst thou think me unable to give thee the riches and honor I promised?

Balaam told Balak that he had come as it was with no power at all to say anything; but the word that God put into his mouth, that he would speak.

The next day Balak took Balaam up to a high place. And Balaam said to him, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me seven oxen and seven rams. And Balak did so; and Balaam offered on every altar an ox and a ram. And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, while I go and call upon the Lord; and whatsoever he bids me do I will tell to thee. And Balaam went farther up the mountain, and prayed to God. And God commanded him to return to Balak, and told him what to say to the king.

Balaam said to Balak, and to all the princes of Moab, How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I make those afraid whom God hath not threatened? For from the tops of the rocks and the hills I see Him, and know that Ie hath set this people apart to be a nation by themselves, that shall outnumber all other nations. Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his !

Balak said to Balaam, What hast thou done to me? I brought thee here to curse my enemies, and thou hast blessed them altogether.

Balaam said that he could only speak such words as the Lord put into his mouth.

Then Balak said to Balaam, Come, I pray thee, to another place, where thou canst have a better view of the people, and curse me them from thence. And he took him to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars there, and offered an ox and a sheep on every altar, And Balaam said to Balak, Stand here

by thy burnt offering, while I meet the Lord yonder. And the Lord told Balaam what he was to say. And when he returned Balak said, What hath the Lord spoken?

Balaam said, Hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of a man that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? I am commanded to bless, and he blesses, and I cannot change it. God is with the children of Israel. He brought them up out of Egypt, and I can work no enchantment against them.

Balak said if he could not curse them he need not bless them. Balaam answered, saying, All that the Lord speaketh, that I must do.

Then Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looked off toward the wilderness. And he built seven altars there, and offered an ox and a sheep on every altar. And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went not off to work enchantments. And as he looked off and saw the camp of the Israelites, the Spirit of God came upon him, and he exclaimed, How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob! and thy tabernacles, O Israel! Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.

Balak was very angry at these words, and struck his hands together, and he said to Balaam, I called thee to curse my enemies, and behold, these three times thou hast blessed them. Make haste now to thine own place. I thought to raise thee to great honor, but the Lord hath prevented it.

Balaam said, Did I not tell the messengers thou sent me? If Balak would give me a house full of silver and gold, I cannot disobey the Lord, to do good or evil of mine own mind, but what he bids me speak, that will I say. And he spoke further to Balak, as if in a trance, or seeing a vision with his eyes open, and said, I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite through the princes of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. And after a few more words Balaam rose and went back to his home, and Balak also went on his way.

The children of Israel remained for some time on the

borders of the land of Moab, and Moses continued teaching them from day to day, and reading to them the laws that he had written down on Mount Sinai. And he made songs for

them to sing, that they might lift their hearts and voices to the Lord, and speak his praise in sweet-sounding words.

One day God commanded Moses to go up Mount Nebo and take a look at the land of Canaan which he had promised to give the children of Israel. God told Moses that he might see

the land, but he could not enter it because of his disobedience at Meribah. And he was to die there in the mount.

Moses went up from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, the highest peak of Mount Nebo, from whence he could see all the land that lay round about. And the Lord showed him the length and breadth of the land he had promised to the children of Israel, and pointed out all it beauties.

And Moses died there on Mount Nebo, and the Lord buried him, and nobody knows where his sepulchre is to this day. Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor had he lost any of his manly strength. The children of Israel mourned his loss deeply, and there was never a prophet in Israel like Moses, who spoke with the Lord face to face,