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 unto Balak: 'Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.'

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 spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.

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.

And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go; peradventure the LORD will come to meet me; and whatsoever He showeth me I will tell thee.' And he went to a bare height.

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 met Balaam; and he said unto Him: 'I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bullock and a ram 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 a word in Balaam's mouth, and said: 'Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.'

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

And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes 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 he took up his parable, and said: From Aram Balak bringeth me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East: 'Come, curse me Jacob, and come, execrate 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 shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? And how shall I execrate, whom the LORD hath not execrated?

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.

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.

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 hath counted the dust of Jacob, or numbered the stock of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let mine end be 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.

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

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

And he answered and said: 'Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD putteth in 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 unto him: 'Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all; and curse me them from thence.'

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,

And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.

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

And he said unto Balak: 'Stand here by thy burnt-offering, while I go toward a meeting yonder.'

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 met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said: 'Return unto Balak, and thus shalt thou speak.'

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?

And he came to him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him: 'What hath the LORD spoken?'

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

And he took up his parable, and said: Arise, Balak, and hear; give ear unto me, thou 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, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: when He hath said, will He not do it? or when He hath spoken, will He not make it good?

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

Behold, I am bidden to bless; and when He hath blessed, I cannot call it back.

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.

None hath beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath one seen perverseness in Israel; the LORD his God is with him, and the shouting for the King is among them.

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

God who brought them forth out of Egypt is for them like the lofty horns of the wild-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.

For there is no enchantment with Jacob, neither is there any divination with Israel; now is it said of Jacob and of Israel: 'What hath God wrought!'

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.

Behold a people that riseth up as a lioness, and as a lion doth he lift himself up; he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

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

And Balak said unto Balaam: 'Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.'

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

But Balaam answered and said unto Balak: 'Told not I thee, saying: All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?'

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.

And Balak said unto Balaam: 'Come now, I will take thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.'

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

And Balak took Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh down upon the desert.

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

And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.'

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

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