Numbers 23:1–10

¹And Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. ²And Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam offered up a bullock and a ram on each altar. ³And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go; perhaps Jehovah will come to meet me; and whatever he shews me I will tell thee. And he went to a hill. ⁴And God met Balaam; and Balaam said to him, I have disposed seven altars, and have offered up a bullock and a ram upon each altar. ⁵And Jehovah put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus shalt thou speak. ⁶And he returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab. ⁷And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east: Come, curse me Jacob, and come, denounce Israel! ⁸How shall I curse whom •God hath not cursed? or how shall I denounce whom Jehovah doth not denounce? ⁹For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: Lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations. ¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his!