Numbers 23

23:11 Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 23:2 So Balak did just as Balaam had said. Balak and Balaam then offered on each2 altar a bull and a ram. 23:3 Balaam said to Balak, “Station yourself3 by your burnt offering, and I will go off; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he reveals to me4 I will tell you.”5 Then he went to a deserted height.6

23:4 Then God met Balaam, who7 said to him, “I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 23:5 Then the Lord put a message8 in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.”9

23:6 So he returned to him, and he was still10 standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab. 23:7 Then Balaam11 took up his oracle, and said,

“Balak, the king of Moab, brought me12 from Aram,

out of the mountains of the east, saying,

‘Come, pronounce a curse on Jacob for me;

come, denounce Israel.’13

23:8 How14 can I curse15 one whom God has not cursed,

or how can I denounce one whom the Lord has not denounced?

23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see them;16

from the hills I watch them.17

Indeed, a nation that lives alone,

and it will not be reckoned18 among the nations.

23:10 Who19 can count20 the dust21 of Jacob,

Or as a number,22 the fourth part of Israel?

Let me23 die the death of the upright,24

and let my latter end be like theirs.”25

Balaam Relocates

23:11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but on the contrary26 you have only blessed them!”27 23:12 He replied,28 “Must I not take heed29 to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?”30 23:13 Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you may observe them. You will see only a part of them, but you will not see all of them. Curse them for me from there.”

23:14 So Balak brought Balaam31 to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah,32 where33 he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 23:15 And Balaam34 said to Balak, “Station yourself here35 by your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord there. 23:16 Then the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.” 23:17 When he came to him, he was still standing by his burnt offering, along with the princes of Moab. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”

Balaam Prophesies Again

23:18 Balaam36 uttered37 his oracle, and said,

“Rise up,38 Balak, and hear;

Listen to me, son of Zippor:

23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie,

nor a human being,39 that he should repent.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

Or has he spoken, and will he not establish it?40

23:20 Indeed, I have received a command41 to bless;

he has blessed,42 and I cannot reverse it.43

23:21 He44 has not looked on iniquity in Jacob,45

nor has he seen trouble46 in Israel.

The Lord their God is with them;

the acclamation47 for a king is among them.

23:22 God brought them48 out of Egypt.

They have, as it were, the strength of a wild bull.49

23:23 For there is no spell against50 Jacob,

nor is there any divination against Israel.

At this time51 it must be said52 of Jacob

and of Israel, ‘Look at53 what God has done!’

23:24 Indeed, the people will rise up like a lion,

and like a lion lifts himself up;

they will not lie down until they eat their54 prey,

and drink the blood of the slain.”55

Balaam Relocates Yet Again

23:25 Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all56 nor bless them at all!”57 23:26 But Balaam replied58 to Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord speaks,59 I must do’?”

23:27 Balak said to Balaam, “Come, please; I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God60 that you curse them for me from there.”61 23:28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks toward Jeshimon. 23:29 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars here for me, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams.” 23:30 So Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Balaam Prophesies Yet Again

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