Numbers 22:41–23:14
41 Then it came about in the morning that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to 1athe high places of Baal, and he saw from there 2a bportion of the people.
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.