Numbers 23

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

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

So Balak did as Balaam requested. Then Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on every 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.

Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand at your burnt offering and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” So he went away to a hilltop with no trees.

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.

While he was on the hilltop, God met him, and Balaam said to him, “I have built seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each one.”

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

Yahweh put a message in Balaam's mouth and said, “Return to Balak and speak to him.”

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

So Balaam returned to Balak, who was standing by his burnt offering, and all the leaders of Moab were with him.

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.

Then Balaam began to speak his prophecy and said, “Balak has brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. 'Come, curse Jacob for me,' he said. 'Come, defy 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 can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I oppose those whom Yahweh does not oppose?

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; from the hills I look at him. See, there is a people who live alone and do not consider themselves as just an ordinary nation.

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 can count the dust of Jacob or number even only one-fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of a righteous person, and let my life's 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.

Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but look, you have blessed them.”

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

Balaam answered and said, “Should I not be careful to say only what Yahweh puts 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.

So Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the nearest of them, not all of them. There you will curse them for me.”

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 Balaam into the field of Zophim, to the top of Mount Pisgah, and built seven more altars. He offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

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

Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet with Yahweh over 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.

So Yahweh met Balaam and put a message in his mouth. He said, “Return to Balak and give him my message.”

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?

Balaam returned to him, and look, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab were with him. Then Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh said?”

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

Balaam began his prophecy. He said, “Rise up, Balak, and hear. Listen to me, you 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, Or a human being, that he should change his mind. Has he promised anything without doing it? Has he said he would do something without carrying it out?

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

Look, I have been commanded to bless. God has given a blessing, 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 seen no hardship in Jacob or trouble in Israel. Yahweh their God is with them, and shouts for their king are among them.

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

God brought them out of Egypt with strength like that of a 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.

There is no sorcery that works against Jacob, and no fortune-telling harms Israel. Instead, it must be said about Jacob and Israel, 'Look 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.

Look, the people rise like a lioness, as a lion emerges and attacks. He does not lie down until he eats his victim and drinks the blood of what he has killed.”

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

Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them or 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 to Balak, “Did I not tell you that I must say all that Yahweh tells me to say?”

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.

So Balak replied to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God for you to curse them there for me.”

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 Mount Peor, which looks down on the wilderness.

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

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

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

So Balak did as Balaam had said; he offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.