Numbers 23

Balaam’s Oracles

23Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me this: seven altars. And prepare for me this: seven bulls and seven rams.” ²And Balak did just as Balaam spoke, and Balak offered Balaam a bull and a ram on the altar. ³And Balaam said to Balak, “Station yourself at your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell to you.” So he went to a barren height.

⁴And God met with Balaam, and he said to him, “I have arranged seven altars, and I have offered a bull and a ram on the altar.” ⁵Yahweh put a word in the mouth of Balaam and said, “Return to Balak, and you must speak thus.” ⁶So he returned to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, he and all the leaders of Moab. ⁷And he lifted up his oracle and said,

“From Aram Balak lead me,

from the mountains of the east the king of Moab,

‘Go for me, curse Jacob,

and go, denounce Israel.’

⁸How can I curse whom God has not cursed,

and how can I denounce whom Yahweh has not denounced?

⁹Because from the top of the rocks I see him,

from hilltops I watch him.

Behold, a people who dwell alone,

they do not consider themselves among the nations.

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob,

or as a number the fourth part of Israel?

Let my life die the death of an upright person,

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 look, you have surely blessed them!” ¹²He answered and said, “Should I not speak^a what Yahweh puts in my mouth?”

¹³Then Balak said, “Please walk with me to another place where you will see them, but you will only see part of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴So he took him to the field of Zophim to the top of Pisgah, and he built seven altars, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ¹⁵Balaam^b said to Balak, “Station yourself here at the burnt offering while I myself meet with Yahweh there.” ¹⁶Then Yahweh met with Balaam, and he put a word in his mouth, and he said, “Return to Balak, and you must speak thus.” ¹⁷He came to him, and behold, he was standing at his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh spoken?” ¹⁸Then he uttered^c his oracle, and said,

“Stand up, Balak, and hear;

listen to me, son of Zippor!

¹⁹God is not a man, that he should lie,

nor a son of humankind,

that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

And has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

²⁰Behold, I have received a command to bless;

when he has blessed, I cannot cause it to return.

²¹He has no regard for evil in Jacob,

and he does not see trouble in Israel;

Yahweh his God is with him,

and a shout^d of a king is among them.^e

²²God, who brings them out from Egypt,

is like the strength^f of a wild ox for them.^g

²³Because there is no sorcery against Jacob,

and there is no divination against Israel.

Now^h it will be said to Jacob and Israel,

what God has done!

²⁴Look! the people will rise like the lion;

he raises himself and will not lie down

until he eats the prey

and drinks the blood of the slain.”

²⁵Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse themⁱ at all, nor bless them^j at all!” ²⁶But Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Whatever Yahweh speaks I will do’?”

²⁷Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please, come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be acceptable to^k God, and you will curse for me from there.” ²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which looks down on the face of the Jeshimon.^{l 29}And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me these seven altars, and prepare for me these seven bulls and seven rams.” ³⁰Balak did just as Balaam said, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.