7 And 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?

9 For 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!”

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

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

Balaam’s Second Prophecy

13 Then 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.” 14 So 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.

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

16 Then the Lord met Balaam, and rput a word in his mouth, and said, “Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 17 So 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?”

18 Then 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?

20 Behold, 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.

22 yGod 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!’