Numbers 23

1 And Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks 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 And Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam offered up a bullock 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 And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go; perhaps Jehovah will come to meet me; and whatever he shews me I will tell thee. And he went to a hill.

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 Balaam; and [Balaam] said to him, I have disposed seven altars, and have offered up a bullock and a ram upon [each] altar.

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 And Jehovah put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus shalt thou speak.

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

6 And he returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.

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

7 And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east: Come, curse me Jacob, and come, 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 shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I denounce whom Jehovah doth not denounce?

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

9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: Lo, [it is] a people that shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned 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, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his!

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 And Balak said to Balaam, What hast thou done to me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.

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 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which Jehovah puts in my mouth?

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

13 And Balak said to him, Come, I pray thee, with me to another place, from whence thou wilt see them; thou shalt see only the extremity of them and shalt not see them all, and curse me them from thence.

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 And he took him to the watchmen's field, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bullock 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 And [Balaam] said to Balak, Stand here by thy burnt-offering, and I will go to meet yonder.

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

16 And Jehovah met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus shalt thou speak.

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 And he came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him; and Balak said to him, What has Jehovah spoken?

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 he took up his parable and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear! hearken unto me, 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; neither a son of man, that he should repent. Shall he say and not do? and shall he speak and not make it good?

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 Behold, I have received [mission] to bless; and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

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

21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen wrong in Israel; Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a king is in his midst.

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 him out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of a buffalo.

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

23 For there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel. At this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!

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 Lo, the people will rise up as a lioness, and lift himself up as a lion. He shall not lie down until he have eaten the prey and drunk 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 And Balak said to Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.

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

26 And Balaam answered and said to Balak, Did I not tell thee, saying, All that Jehovah shall speak, that will I do?

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

27 And Balak said to Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee to another place; perhaps it will be right in the sight of God that thou curse me them from thence.

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 brought Balaam to the top of Peor, which looks over the surface of the waste.

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

29 And Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.

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

30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bullock and a ram on each altar.

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