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 says to Balak, “Build seven altars for me in this [place], and prepare seven bullocks and seven rams for me in this [place].”

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 does as Balaam has spoken, and Balak—Balaam also—offers a bullock and a ram on the altar,

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 says to Balak, “Station yourself by your burnt-offering and I go on, it may be YHWH comes to meet me, and the thing which He shows me I have declared to you”; and he goes [to] a high place.

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 comes to Balaam, and he says to Him, “I have arranged the seven altars, and I offer a bullock and a ram on the altar”;

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

and YHWH puts a word in the mouth of Balaam and says, “Return to Balak, and thus you speak.”

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

And he returns to him, and behold, he is standing 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 takes up his allegory and says: “Balak king of Moab leads me from Aram; From mountains of the east. Come—curse Jacob for me, And come—be indignant [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 do I pierce [when] God has not pierced? And how am I indignant [when] YHWH has not been indignant?

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 rocks I see him, And from heights I behold him; Behold a people! He dwells alone, And does not reckon himself among 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 has counted the dust of Jacob, And the number of the fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of upright ones, And let my last 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 says to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I have taken you to pierce my enemies, and behold, you have certainly blessed”;

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

and he answers and says, “That which YHWH puts in my mouth—do I not take heed to speak it?”

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 says to him, “Come! Come to another place with me, from where you see it—you see only its extremity, and you do not see all of it, and pierce it for me 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,

and he takes him [to] the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and builds seven altars, and offers a bullock and a ram on the altar.

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

And he says to Balak, “Station yourself here by your burnt-offering, and I meet [Him] there”;

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 YHWH comes to Balaam, and sets a word in his mouth, and says, “Return to Balak, and thus you 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 comes to him, and behold, he is standing by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab [are] with him, and Balak says to him: “What has YHWH spoken?”

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

And he takes up his allegory and says: “Rise, Balak, and hear; Give ear to me, 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—and lies, And a son of man—and relents! Has He said—and He does not do [it]? And spoken—and He does not confirm it?

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

Behold, I have received [only] to bless; Indeed, He blesses, and I cannot reverse it.

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 not beheld iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen perverseness in Israel; His God YHWH [is] with him, And a shout of a king [is] in him.

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

God is bringing them out from Egypt, As the swiftness of a wild ox for him;

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 no enchantment [is] against Jacob, Nor divination against Israel; At the time it is said of Jacob and Israel, O what God has worked!

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, the people rises as a lioness, And he lifts himself up as a lion; He does not lie down until he eats prey, And drinks blood of pierced ones.”

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

And Balak says to Balaam, “Neither pierce it at all, nor bless it at all”;

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

and Balaam answers and says to Balak, “Have I not spoken to you, saying, All that YHWH speaks—I do it?”

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 says to Balaam, “Please come, I take you to another place; it may be it is right in the eyes of God to pierce it for me from there.”

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

And Balak takes Balaam to the top of Peor, which is looking on the front of the wilderness,

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

and Balaam says to Balak, “Build seven altars for me in this [place], and prepare seven bullocks and seven rams for me in this [place]”;

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

and Balak does as Balaam said, and he offers a bullock and a ram on an altar.