Numbers 23

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

And Balaam said to Balac: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.

2 So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

And when he had done according to the word of Balaam, they laid together a calf and a ram upon every altar.

3 “Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone,” Balaam said to Balak. “Perhaps the LORD will meet with me. And whatever He reveals to me, I will tell you.” So Balaam went off to a barren height,

And Balaam said to Balac: Stand a while by thy burnt offering, until I go, to see if perhaps the Lord will meet me, and whatsoever he shall command, I will speak to thee.

4 and God met with him. “I have set up seven altars,” Balaam said, “and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”

And when he was gone with speed, God met him. And Balaam speaking to him, said: I have erected seven altars, and have laid on everyone a calf and a ram.

5 Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and give him this message.”

And the Lord put the word in his mouth, and said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou speak.

6 So he returned to Balak, who was standing there beside his burnt offering, with all the princes of Moab.

Returning he found Balac standing by his burnt offering, with all the princes of the Moabites:

7 And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!’

And taking up his parable, he said: Balac king of the Moabites hath brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east: Come, said he, and curse Jacob: make haste and detest Israel.

8 How can I curse what God has not cursed? How can I denounce what the LORD has not denounced?

How shall I curse him, whom God hath not cursed? By what means should I detest him, whom the Lord detesteth not?

9 For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. Behold, a people dwelling apart, not reckoning themselves among the nations.

I shall see him from the tops of the rocks, and shall consider him from the hills. This people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

10 Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous; let my end be like theirs!”

Who can count the dust of Jacob, and know the number of the stock of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the just, and my last end be like to them.

11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and behold, you have only blessed them!”

And Balac said to Balaam: What is this that thou dost? I sent for thee to curse my enemies: and thou contrariwise blessest them.

12 But Balaam replied, “Should I not speak exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

He answered him: Call I speak any thing else but what the Lord commandeth?

13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the outskirts of their camp—not all of them. And from there, curse them for me.”

Balac therefore said: Come with me to another place from whence thou mayest see part of Israel, and canst not see them all: curse them from thence.

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

And when he had brought him to a high place, upon the top of mount Phasga, Balaam built seven altars, and laying on every one a calf and a ram,

15 Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I meet the LORD over there.”

He said to Balac: Stand here by thy burnt offering while I go to meet him.

16 And the LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak what I tell you.”

And when the Lord had met him, and had put the word in his mouth, he said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou say to him.

17 So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the princes of Moab. “What did the LORD say?” Balak asked.

Returning he found him standing by his burnt sacrifice, and the princes of the Moabites with him. And Balac said to him: What hath the Lord spoken?

18 Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Arise, O Balak, and listen; give ear to me, O son of Zippor.

But he taking up his parable, said: Stand, O Balac, and give ear: hear, thou son of Sephor:

19 God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said then, and will he not do? hath he spoken, and will he not fulfill?

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

I was brought to bless, the blessing I am not able to hinder.

21 He considers no disaster for Jacob; He sees no trouble for Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of the King is among them.

There is no idol in Jacob, neither is there an image god to be seen in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the sound of the victory of the king in him.

22 God brought them out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox.

God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros.

23 For there is no spell against Jacob and no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What great things God has done!’

There is no soothsaying in Jacob, nor divination in Israel. In their times it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God hath wrought.

24 Behold, the people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion, not resting until they devour their prey and drink the blood of the slain.”

Behold the people shall rise up as a lioness, and shall lift itself up as a lion: it shall not lie down till it devour the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

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

And Balac said to Balaam: Neither curse, nor bless him.

26 But Balaam replied, “Did I not tell you that whatever the LORD says, I must do?”

And he said: Did I not tell thee, that whatsoever God should command me, that I would do?

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

And Balac said to him: Come and I will bring thee to another place; if peradventure it please God that thou mayest curse them from thence.

28 And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.

And when he had brought him upon the top of mount Phogor, which looketh towards the wilderness,

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

Balaam said to him: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.

30 So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Balac did as Balaam had said: and he laid on every altar, a calf and a ram.