Liber Numeri 23
1 dixitque Balaam ad Balac aedifica mihi hic septem aras et para totidem vitulos eiusdemque numeri arietes
Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.”
2 cumque fecisset iuxta sermonem Balaam inposuerunt simul vitulum et arietem super aram
Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.
3 dixitque Balaam ad Balac sta paulisper iuxta holocaustum tuum donec vadam si forte occurrat mihi Dominus et quodcumque imperaverit loquar tibi
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.
4 cumque abisset velociter occurrit ei Deus locutusque ad eum Balaam septem inquit aras erexi et inposui vitulum et arietem desuper
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.”
5 Dominus autem posuit verbum in ore eius et ait revertere ad Balac et haec loqueris
Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
6 reversus invenit stantem Balac iuxta holocaustum suum et omnes principes Moabitarum
He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.
7 adsumptaque parabola sua dixit de Aram adduxit me Balac rex Moabitarum de montibus orientis veni inquit et maledic Iacob propera et detestare Israhel
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.
8 quomodo maledicam cui non maledixit Deus qua ratione detester quem Dominus non detestatur
How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied?
9 de summis silicibus videbo eum et de collibus considerabo illum populus solus habitabit et inter gentes non reputabitur
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.
10 quis dinumerare possit pulverem Iacob et nosse numerum stirpis Israhel moriatur anima mea morte iustorum et fiant novissima mea horum similia
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!”
11 dixitque Balac ad Balaam quid est hoc quod agis ut malediceres inimicis vocavi te et tu e contrario benedicis eis
Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether.”
12 cui ille respondit num aliud possum loqui nisi quod iusserit Dominus
He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?”
13 dixit ergo Balac veni mecum in alterum locum unde partem Israhelis videas et totum videre non possis inde maledicito ei
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.”
14 cumque duxisset eum in locum sublimem super verticem montis Phasga aedificavit Balaam septem aras et inpositis supra vitulo atque ariete
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.
15 dixit ad Balac sta hic iuxta holocaustum tuum donec ego pergam obvius
He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet God over there.”
16 cui cum Dominus occurrisset posuissetque verbum in ore eius ait revertere ad Balac et haec loqueris ei
Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.”
17 reversus invenit eum stantem iuxta holocaustum suum et principes Moabitarum cum eo ad quem Balac quid inquit locutus est Dominus
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?”
18 at ille adsumpta parabola sua ait sta Balac et ausculta audi fili Sepphor
He took up his parable, and said, “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor.
19 non est Deus quasi homo ut mentiatur nec ut filius hominis ut mutetur dixit ergo et non faciet locutus est et non implebit
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?
20 ad benedicendum adductus sum benedictionem prohibere non valeo
Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it.
21 non est idolum in Iacob nec videtur simulacrum in Israhel Dominus Deus eius cum eo est et clangor victoriae regis in illo
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.
22 Deus eduxit eum de Aegypto cuius fortitudo similis est rinocerotis
God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.
23 non est augurium in Iacob nec divinatio in Israhel temporibus suis dicetur Iacob et Israheli quid operatus sit Deus
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!’
24 ecce populus ut leaena consurget et quasi leo erigetur non accubabit donec devoret praedam et occisorum sanguinem bibat
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.”
25 dixitque Balac ad Balaam nec maledicas ei nec benedicas
Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.”
26 et ille nonne ait dixi tibi quod quicquid mihi Deus imperaret hoc facerem
But Balaam answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do’?”
27 et ait Balac ad eum veni et ducam te ad alium locum si forte placeat Deo ut inde maledicas eis
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.”
28 cumque duxisset eum super verticem montis Phogor qui respicit solitudinem
Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert.
29 dixit ei Balaam aedifica mihi hic septem aras et para totidem vitulos eiusdemque numeri arietes
Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
30 fecit Balac ut Balaam dixerat inposuitque vitulos et arietes per singulas aras
Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.
