Numbers 23

Balaam’s First Message

Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams^a for me.” Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.^b

Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me.^c Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.

God met with him,^d and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”

The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth^ef and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”^g

So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials.^h Then Balaamⁱ spoke his message:^j

“Balak brought me from Aram,^k

the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.^l

‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me;

come, denounce Israel.’^m

How can I curse

those whom God has not cursed?ⁿ

How can I denounce

those whom the Lord has not denounced?^o

From the rocky peaks I see them,

from the heights I view them.^p

I see a people who live apart

and do not consider themselves one of the nations.^q

Who can count the dust of Jacob^r

or number the fourth part of Israel?

Let me die the death of the righteous,^s

and may my final end be like theirs!^t”

Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies,^u but you have done nothing but bless them!”^v

He answered, “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”^w

Balaam’s Second Message

Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place^a where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp.^b And from there, curse them for me.^c” So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah,^d and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.^e

Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.”

The Lord met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth^f and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”

So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials.^g Balak asked him, “What did the Lord say?”

Then he spoke his message:^h

“Arise, Balak, and listen;

hear me, son of Zippor.ⁱ

God is not a human,^j that he should lie,^k

not a human being, that he should change his mind.^l

Does he speak and then not act?

Does he promise^m and not fulfill?

I have received a command to bless;ⁿ

he has blessed,^o and I cannot change it.^p

“No misfortune is seen in Jacob,^q

no misery observed in Israel.^r

The Lord their God is with them;^s

the shout of the King^t is among them.

God brought them out of Egypt;^u

they have the strength of a wild ox.^v

There is no divination against Jacob,

no evil omens^w against Israel.

It will now be said of Jacob

and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’

The people rise like a lioness;^x

they rouse themselves like a lion^y

that does not rest till it devours its prey

and drinks the blood^z of its victims.”

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

Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the Lord says?”^a

Balaam’s Third Message

Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place.^a Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me^b from there.” And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor,^c overlooking the wasteland.

Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.^d