Numbers 23

23Then Balaam said to Balak, ^a“Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

²And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam ^boffered a bull and a ram on each altar. ³Then Balaam said to Balak, ^c“Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come ^dto meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a desolate height. ^4eAnd God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”

⁵Then the Lord ^fput a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ⁶So he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

⁷And he ^gtook up his ¹oracle and said:

“Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram,

From the mountains of the east.

^h‘Come, curse Jacob for me,

And come, ⁱdenounce Israel!’

⁸“How ^jshall I curse whom God has not cursed?

And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?

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

And from the hills I behold him;

There! ^kA people dwelling alone,

^lNot reckoning itself among the nations.

¹⁰“Who ^mcan count the ²dust of Jacob,

Or number one-fourth of Israel?

Let me die ⁿthe death of the righteous,

And let my end be like his!”

¹¹Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? ^oI took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!”

¹²So he answered and said, ^p“Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?”

Balaam’s Second Prophecy

¹³Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only the outer part of them, and shall not see them all; curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴So he brought him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, ^qand built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵And he said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering while I ³meet the Lord over there.”

¹⁶Then the Lord met Balaam, and ^rput a word in his mouth, and said, “Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ¹⁷So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”

¹⁸Then he took up his oracle and said:

^s“Rise up, Balak, and hear!

Listen to me, son of Zippor!

¹⁹“God ^tis not a man, that He should lie,

Nor a son of man, that He should repent.

Has He ^usaid, and will He not do?

Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

²⁰Behold, I have received a command to bless;

^vHe has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

²¹“He ^whas not observed iniquity in Jacob,

Nor has He seen ⁴wickedness in Israel.

The Lord his God is with him,

^xAnd the shout of a King is among them.

^22yGod brings them out of Egypt;

He has ^zstrength like a wild ox.

²³“For there is no ⁵sorcery against Jacob,

Nor any ⁶divination against Israel.

It now must be said of Jacob

And of Israel, ‘Oh, ^awhat God has done!’

²⁴Look, a people rises ^blike a lioness,

And lifts itself up like a lion;

^cIt shall not lie down until it devours the prey,

And drinks the blood of the slain.”

²⁵Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!”

²⁶So Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ^d‘All that the Lord speaks, that I must do’?”

Balaam’s Third Prophecy

²⁷Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” ²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that ^eoverlooks ⁷the wasteland. ²⁹Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ³⁰And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.