Numbers 23

¹Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

²And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

³Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord

⁴And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”

⁵Then the Lord

⁶So he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

⁷And he took up his oracle and said: “Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, From the mountains of the east. ‘Come, curse Jacob for me, And come, denounce Israel!’

⁸“How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the Lord

⁹For from the top of the rocks I see him, And from the hills I behold him; There! A people dwelling alone, Not reckoning itself among the nations.

¹⁰“Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number one-fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, And let my end be like his!”

¹¹Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!”

¹²So he answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord

¹³Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only the outer part of them, and shall not see them all; curse them for me from there.”

¹⁴So he brought him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵And he said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering while I meet the Lord

¹⁶Then the Lord

¹⁷So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord

¹⁸Then he took up his oracle and said: “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor!

¹⁹“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

²⁰Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

²¹“He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord And the shout of a King is among them.

²²God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox.

²³“For there is no sorcery against Jacob, Nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob And of Israel, ‘Oh, what God has done!’

²⁴Look, a people rises like a lioness, And lifts itself up like a lion; It shall not lie down until it devours the prey, And drinks the blood of the slain.”

²⁵Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!”

²⁶So Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘All that the Lord

²⁷Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.”

²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks the wasteland.

²⁹Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

³⁰And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.