Numbers 23:7–24:9

⁷Then he took up his ¹discourse and said,

“From ^aAram Balak has brought me,

Moab’s king from the mountains of the East,

‘^bCome curse Jacob for me,

And come, denounce Israel!’

⁸“^aHow shall I curse whom God has not cursed?

And how can I denounce whom Yahweh has not denounced?

⁹“For I see him from the top of the rocks,

And I look at him from the hills;

^aBehold, a people who dwells alone,

And will not be reckoned among the nations.

¹⁰“^aWho can number the dust of Jacob,

Or count the fourth part of Israel?

^bLet ¹me die the death of the upright,

^cAnd let my end be like his!”

¹¹Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? ^aI took you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have blessed them repeatedly!”

¹²And he replied, “Must I not be careful to speak ^awhat Yahweh puts in my mouth?”

Balaam’s Discourse

¹³Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, but you will only see the end 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 built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵And he said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet Yahweh over there.”

¹⁶Then Yahweh met Balaam and ^aput a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”

¹⁷So he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh spoken?”

¹⁸Then he took up his ¹discourse and said,

“Arise, O Balak, and hear;

Give ear to me, O son of Zippor!

¹⁹“^aGod is not a man, that He should lie,

Nor a son of man, that He should repent;

^bHas He said, and will He not do it?

Or has He spoken, and will He not establish it?

²⁰“Behold, I have received a command to bless;

^aWhen He has blessed, then ^bI cannot revoke it.

²¹“^aHe has not observed ¹misfortune in Jacob;

^bNor has He seen trouble in Israel;

^cYahweh his God is with him,

^dAnd the shout of a king is among them.

²²“^aGod brings them out of Egypt,

He is for them like the ^bhorns of the wild ox.

²³“^aFor there is no omen against Jacob,

Nor is there any divination against Israel;

At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob

And to Israel, what God has done!

²⁴“^aBehold, a people rises like a lioness,

And as a lion it lifts itself;

It will not lie down until it devours the prey,

And drinks the blood of the slain.”

²⁵Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all!”

²⁶But Balaam replied to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘^aWhatever Yahweh speaks, that I must do’?”

²⁷Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be right in the eyes of God that you curse them for me from there.”

²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks the ¹wasteland.

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

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

CHAPTER 24

Spirit of God Comes Upon Balaam

¹And Balaam saw that it was good in the eyes of Yahweh to bless Israel, so he did not go as at other times to ¹encounter ^aomens, but he set his face toward the ^bwilderness.

²And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel dwelling tribe by tribe; and ^athe Spirit of God came upon him.

³Then he took up his ¹discourse and said,

“^aThe oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,

And the oracle of the man whose eye is uncovered;

⁴The oracle of him who ^ahears the ¹words of God,

Who beholds the ^bvision of ²the Almighty,

Falling down, yet having his eyes opened,

⁵How fair are your tents, O Jacob,

Your dwellings, O Israel!

⁶“Like ¹valleys that stretch out,

Like gardens beside the river,

Like ^aaloes planted by Yahweh,

Like ^bcedars beside the waters.

⁷“Water will flow from his buckets,

And his seed will be by many waters,

And his king shall be lifted up higher than ^aAgag,

^bAnd his kingdom shall be exalted.

⁸“^aGod brings him out of Egypt,

He is for him like the horns of the wild ox.

^bHe will devour the nations who are his adversaries,

And will gnaw their bones in pieces,

And ¹shatter them with his ^carrows.

⁹“^aHe ¹crouches, he lies down as a lion,

And as a ²lion, who ³dares rouse him?

^bBlessed is everyone who blesses you,

And cursed is everyone who curses you.”