Numbers 23

1 Balaam said to Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams."

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

2 Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.

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 Balaam said to Balak, "Station yourself by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps God will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you." And Balak went off and stationed himself by his offering, and Balaam called to God and went off to a barren height.

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 God met Balaam, and he said to him, "I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar."

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 God put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall 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 He returned to him, and look, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.

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

7 He took up his parable, and said, "From Aram has Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East. 'Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, defy 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 whom the LORD has not cursed? How shall I defy whom God has not defied?

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 For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Look, it is a people that dwells alone, and not counting itself 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 who has numbered the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous. Let my last end be like his."

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 Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them altogether."

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 and said, "Must I not be careful to speak that which God puts in my mouth?"

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

13 Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place, where you may see them; you shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all; and curse them for me from there."

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

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 Balak, "Station yourself here by your burnt offering, while I meet over there."

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

16 And God met Balaam and put a word in his mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and say this."

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 He came to him, and look, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, "What has 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 He took up his parable, and said, "Rise up, Balak, and hear. Listen to me, you son of Zippor.

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 the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?

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 Look, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can't reverse it.

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

21 He has not seen iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. The LORD his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them.

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 brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.

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

23 Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; neither is there any divination with Israel. Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, what has God done.

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 Look, the people rises up as a lioness, as a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drinks 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 Balak said to Balaam, "Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all."

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

26 But Balaam answered Balak, "Did I not tell you, saying, 'All that God speaks, that I must do?'"

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

27 Balak said to Balaam, "Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there."

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 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert.

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

29 Balaam said to Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams."

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

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

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