Chapter 23

The Prophecies of Balaam

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

2 Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

3 Then 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.” So he went to a bare hill.

4 Now God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have set up the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.”

5 Then the Lord aput a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and you shall speak thus.”

6 So he returned to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, he and all the leaders of Moab.

7 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 the Lord has not denounced?

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

And I look at him from the hills;

aBehold, a people who dwells apart,

And will not be reckoned among the nations.

10 “aWho can count the dust of Jacob,

Or number the fourth part of Israel?

bLet 1me die the death of the upright,

cAnd let my end be like his!”

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

12 He replied, “Must I not be careful to speak awhat the Lord puts in my mouth?”

13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there.”

14 So 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.

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

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

17 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 the Lord spoken?”

18 Then 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 make it good?

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;

cThe Lord 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.”

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

26 But Balaam replied to Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘1aWhatever the Lord speaks, that I must do’?”

27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be 1agreeable with God that you curse them for me from there.”

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

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

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