Numbers 23

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

²Balak did as Balaam had said . And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram .

³And Balaam said to Balak , Stand beside your burnt offering , and I will go . Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you. And he went to a bare height ,

⁴and God met Balaam . And Balaam said to him, I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram .

⁵And the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said , Return to Balak , and thus you shall speak .

⁶And he returned to him, and behold , he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering .

⁷And Balaam took up his discourse and said , From Aram Balak has brought me, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains : Come , curse Jacob for me, and come , denounce Israel !

⁸How can I curse whom God has not cursed ? How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced ?

⁹For from the top of the crags I see him, from the hills I behold him; behold , a people dwelling alone , and not counting itself among the nations !

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel ? Let me die the death of the upright , and let my end be like his!

¹¹And Balak said to Balaam , What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies , and behold , you have done nothing but bless them.

¹²And he answered and said , Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth ?

¹³And Balak said to him, Please come with me to another place , from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all . Then curse them for me from there .

¹⁴And he took him to the field of Zophim , to the top of Pisgah , and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar .

¹⁵Balaam said to Balak , Stand here beside your burnt offering , while I meet the Lord over there .

¹⁶And the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said , Return to Balak , and thus shall you speak .

¹⁷And he came to him, and behold , he was standing beside his burnt offering , and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, What has the Lord spoken ?

¹⁸And Balaam took up his discourse and said , Rise , Balak , and hear ; give ear to me, O son of Zippor :

¹⁹God is not man , that he should lie , or a son of man , that he should change his mind . Has he said , and will he not do it? Or has he spoken , and will he not fulfill it?

²⁰Behold , I received a command to bless : he has blessed , and I cannot revoke it.

²¹He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob , nor has he seen trouble in Israel . The Lord their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them.

²²God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of the wild ox .

²³For there is no enchantment against Jacob , no divination against Israel ; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel , What has God wrought !

²⁴Behold , a people ! As a lioness it rises up and as a lion it lifts itself; it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey and drunk the blood of the slain .

²⁵And Balak said to Balaam , Do not curse them at all , and do not bless them at all .

²⁶But Balaam answered Balak , Did I not tell you, All that the Lord says , that I must do ?

²⁷And 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 .

²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor , which overlooks the desert .

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

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