Numbers 23:1–10

¹And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and provide for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ²Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram. ³And 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.” And he went to a bare height. ⁴And God met Balaam; and Balaam said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered upon each altar a bull and a ram.” ⁵And the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ⁶And he returned to him, and lo, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering. ⁷And Balaam took up his discourse, and said,

“From Aram Balak has brought me,

the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:

‘Come, curse Jacob for me,

and come, denounce Israel!’

⁸How can I curse whom God has not cursed?

How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?

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

from the hills I behold him;

lo, a people dwelling alone,

and not reckoning itself among the nations!

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob,

or number the fourth part of Israel?

Let me die the death of the righteous,

and let my end be like his!”