First Reading
Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17a
Read this as the first big movement of the day. Notice what God is doing, who is speaking, and what part of the story or teaching should stay with you.
24:2And lifting up his eyes, he saw Israel abiding in their tents by their tribes: and the spirit of God rushing upon him,
3He took up his parable and said: Balaam the son of Beor has said: The man has said, whose eye ire stopped up:
4The hearer of the words of God has said, the one who has saw the vision of the Almighty, he that falleth, and so his eyes are opened:
5How beautiful are your tabernacles, O Jacob, and your tents, O Israel!
6As woody valleys, as watered gardens near the rivers, as tabernacles which the Lord has pitched, as cedars by the waterside.
7Water shall flow out of his bucket, and his offspring shall be in many waters. For Agag his king shall be removed, and his kingdom shall be taken awry.
15Therefore taking up his parable, again he said: Balaam the son of Beor has said: The man whose eye is stopped up, has said:
16The hearer of the words of God has said, who knows the teaching of the Highest, and sees the visions of the Almighty, who falling has his eyes opened:
17I shall see him, but not now: I shall look him, but not near. A STAR SHALL RISE out of Jacob and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel: and shall strike the chiefs of Moab, and shall waste all the children of Seth.