Numbers 23

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

And Balaam said to Balak, Make me here seven altars and get ready seven oxen and seven male sheep.

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

And Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam made an offering on every altar of an ox and a male sheep.

3 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.

Then Balaam said to Balak, Take your place by your burned offering, and I will go and see if the Lord comes to me: and I will give you word of whatever he says to me. And he went to an open place on a hill.

4 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.

And God came to Balaam, and Balaam said to him, I have made ready seven altars, offering an ox and a male sheep on every altar.

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

And the Lord put words in Balaam's mouth, and said, Go back to Balak, and this is what you are to say.

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

So he went back to him where he was waiting by his burned offering with all the chiefs of Moab.

7 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.

And in the words which the Lord had given him he said, From Aram Balak has sent for me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East: come, put curses on Jacob for me and be angry with Israel.

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

How may I put curses on him who is not cursed by God? how may I be angry with him with whom the Lord is not angry?

9 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.

From the top of the rocks I see him, looking down on him from the hills: it is a people made separate, not to be numbered among the nations.

10 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.

Who is able to take the measure of the dust of Jacob or the number of the thousands of Israel? May my death be the death of the upright and my last end like his!

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

Then Balak said to Balaam, What have you done to me? I sent for you so that my haters might be cursed, and see, you have given them a blessing.

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

And in answer he said, Am I not ordered to say only what the Lord puts into my mouth?

13 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.

And Balak said to him, Come with me now into another place from which you will not be able to see them all, but only the outskirts of them; and you will send curses on them from there.

14 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,

So he took him into the country of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and there they made seven altars, offering an ox and a male sheep on every altar.

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

Then he said to Balak, Take your place here by your burned offering, while I go over there to the Lord.

16 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.

And the Lord came to Balaam, and put words in his mouth, and said, Go back to Balak, and this is what you are to say.

17 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?

So he came to him where he was waiting by his burned offering with the chiefs of Moab by his side. And Balak said to him, What has the Lord said?

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

And in the words which the Lord had given him he said, Up! Balak, and give ear; give attention to me, O son of Zippor:

19 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?

God is not a man, to say what is false; or the son of man, that his purpose may be changed: what he has said, will he not do? and will he not give effect to the words of his mouth?

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

See, I have had orders to give blessing: and he has given a blessing which I have no power to take away.

21 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.

He has seen no evil in Jacob or wrongdoing in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the glad cry of a king is among them.

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

It is God who has taken them out of Egypt; his horns are like those of the mountain ox.

23 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.

No evil power has effect against Jacob, no secret arts against Israel; at the right time it will be said of Jacob and of Israel, See what God has done!

24 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.

See, Israel comes up like a she-lion, lifting himself up like a lion: he will take no rest till he has made a meal of those he has overcome, drinking the blood of those he has put to death.

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

Then Balak said to Balaam, If you will not put a curse on them, at all events do not give them a blessing.

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

But Balaam in answer said to Balak, Did I not say to you, I may only do what the Lord says?

27 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.

Then Balak said to Balaam, Come now, I will take you to another place; it may be that God will let you put a curse on them from there.

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

So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, looking down over the waste land.

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

And Balaam said to Balak, Make me seven altars here and get seven oxen and seven male sheep ready for me.

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

And Balak did as Balaam said, offering an ox and a male sheep on every altar.