Numbers 23
1 Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.”
And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars here for me, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.”
2 Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.
And when he had acted according to the words of Balaam, they placed a calf and a ram together on each altar.
3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” He went to a bare height.
And Balaam said to Balak: “Stand for a little while next to your holocaust, until I go, to see if perhaps the Lord will meet with me. And whatever he will command, I shall speak to you.”
4 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 after he had quickly departed, God met with him. And Balaam, speaking to him, said: “I have set up seven altars, and I have placed a calf and a ram on each.”
5 Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
Then the Lord placed the word in his mouth, and he said: “Return to Balak, and you shall say this.”
6 He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.
Returning, he found Balak standing next to his holocaust, with all the leaders of the Moabites.
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 taking up his parable, he said: “Balak, king of the Moabites, has led me from Aram, from the mountains of the east. ‘Come forth,’ he said, ‘and curse Jacob. Hurry and condemn Israel.’
8 How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied?
How shall I curse him, whom God has not cursed? For what reason would I condemn him, whom the Lord does not condemn?
9 For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be listed among the nations.
I will look upon him from the tops of the stones, and I will consider him from the hills. This people shall dwell alone, and they shall not be counted among the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, or count the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!”
Who can number the dust that is Jacob, and who can know the number of the stock of Israel? May my soul die a just death, and may my end be like theirs.”
11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether.”
And Balak said to Balaam: “What is this that you are doing? I called for you, in order to curse my enemies, and to the contrary, you bless them.”
12 He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?”
He answered him, “How can I say anything other than what the Lord orders?”
13 Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you may see them. You shall see just part of them, and shall not see them all. Curse them from there for me.”
Therefore, Balak said: “Come with me to another place, from where you may see a portion of Israel, though you cannot see them all. Curse 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.
And when he had led him to a lofty place, on the top of mount Pisgah, Balaam built seven altars, and placing upon each a calf and a ram,
15 He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet God over there.”
he said to Balak, “Stand here next to your holocaust, while I continue on to meet him.”
16 Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.”
And when the Lord had met him, and had put the word in his mouth, he said, “Return to Balak, and you shall say this to him.”
17 He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh spoken?”
Returning, he found him standing next to his holocaust, and the leaders of the Moabites were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”
18 He took up his parable, and said, “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor.
But, taking up his parable, he said: “Stand, Balak, and pay attention. Listen, you son of Zippor.
19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and he won’t do it? Or has he spoken, and he won’t make it good?
God is not like a man, so that he would lie, nor is he like a son of man, so that he would be changed. Therefore, having spoken, will he not act? Has he ever spoken, and not fulfilled?
20 Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it.
I was led here to bless, and I have no strength to hinder the blessing.
21 He has not seen iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. Yahweh his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them.
There is no idol in Jacob; neither is there a false image to be seen in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the resound of royal victory is in him.
22 God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.
God has led him away from Egypt; his strength is like that of the rhinoceros.
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!’
There is no soothsaying in Jacob, nor any divination in Israel. In their times, it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God has wrought.
24 Behold, a people rises up as a lioness. As a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eats of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.”
Behold, the people will rise up like a lioness, and lie down like a lion. But they will not lie down until they devour the prey and drink the blood of the slain.”
25 Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.”
And Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse him, nor bless him.”
26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do’?”
And he said, “Have I not told you that whatever God would command of me, I would do?”
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.”
And Balak said to him: “Come and I will lead you to another place. If perhaps it may please God, then you may curse them from there.”
28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert.
And when he had led him on to the top of mount Peor, which looks out toward the wilderness,
29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
Balaam said to him, “Build seven altars here for me, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.”
30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.
Balak did as Balaam had said, and he placed on each altar a calf and a ram.
