Numbers 23

1Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here."

2Balak did as Balaam had said, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on the altar.

3Balaam said to Balak, "Position yourself beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me, and whatever he reveals to me I will declare to you." He went to a bare height.

4God met Balaam, and he said to him, "I have prepared seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar."

5Yahweh put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak."

6He returned to him, and there he stood by his burnt offering—he and all the princes of Moab.

7He uttered his oracle and said, "Balak, king of Moab, brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east. Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, denounce Israel."

8How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom Yahweh has not denounced?

9For from the rocky heights I see him, from the hills I behold him: lo, a people dwells alone, not reckoned among the nations.

10Who counts the dust of Jacob or numbers a fourth of Israel? May my soul die the death of the upright, and may my end be like his!

11Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, and look, you have abundantly blessed them."

12He answered and said, "Must I not take care to speak whatever Yahweh puts in my mouth?"

13Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from which you will see them; you will see only their extremity and not all of them, and curse them for me from there."

14He took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

15He said to Balak, "Station yourself here beside your burnt offering, while I meet there."

16Yahweh met Balaam, put a word in his mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and speak this way."

17He came to him, and there he stood beside his burnt offering, the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, "What has Yahweh spoken?"

18He lifted up his oracle and said, "Rise, Balak, and hear; give ear to me, son of Zippor."

19God is not a man who lies, nor a son of man who repents. Has he said it and not done it, or spoken and not fulfilled it?

20See, I have taken the blessing; he has blessed, and I cannot take it back.

21He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, nor seen trouble in Israel; Yahweh his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.

22God delivered them from Egypt; he has the strength of a wild ox.

23No enchantment prevails against Jacob, nor divination against Israel. At this time it is said of Jacob and Israel, "What has God done!"

24Behold, the nation arises like a lioness and rears up like a lion; it will not lie down until it devours the prey and drinks the blood of the slain.

25Balak said to Balaam, "Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all."

26Balaam replied to Balak, "Did I not speak to you, saying, 'Whatever Yahweh speaks, that I will do'?"

27Balak said to Balaam, "Come, please; I will take you to another place—perhaps it will seem right in God's eyes that you curse them for me from there."

28Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor overlooking Jeshimon.

29Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here."

30Balak carried out what Balaam said and offered a bull and a ram on the altar.