# Numbers 23

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/numbers/23

Translated from Hebrew and Greek with AI, then checked for clarity and fidelity.

1. Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here."
2. Balak did as Balaam had said, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on the altar.
3. Balaam 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.
4. God met Balaam, and he said to him, "I have prepared seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar."
5. Yahweh put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak."
6. He returned to him, and there he stood by his burnt offering—he and all the princes of Moab.
7. He 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."
8. How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom Yahweh has not denounced?
9. For from the rocky heights I see him, from the hills I behold him: lo, a people dwells alone, not reckoned among the nations.
10. Who 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!
11. Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, and look, you have abundantly blessed them."
12. He answered and said, "Must I not take care to speak whatever Yahweh puts in my mouth?"
13. Balak 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."
14. He 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.
15. He said to Balak, "Station yourself here beside your burnt offering, while I meet there."
16. Yahweh met Balaam, put a word in his mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and speak this way."
17. He 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?"
18. He lifted up his oracle and said, "Rise, Balak, and hear; give ear to me, son of Zippor."
19. God 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?
20. See, I have taken the blessing; he has blessed, and I cannot take it back.
21. He 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.
22. God delivered them from Egypt; he has the strength of a wild ox.
23. No enchantment prevails against Jacob, nor divination against Israel. At this time it is said of Jacob and Israel, "What has God done!"
24. Behold, 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.
25. Balak said to Balaam, "Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all."
26. Balaam replied to Balak, "Did I not speak to you, saying, 'Whatever Yahweh speaks, that I will do'?"
27. Balak 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."
28. Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor overlooking Jeshimon.
29. Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here."
30. Balak carried out what Balaam said and offered a bull and a ram on the altar.

## Nearby chapters

[Numbers 22](https://www.lumin.faith/read/numbers/22.md)
[Numbers 24](https://www.lumin.faith/read/numbers/24.md)

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