23
1 Balaam said to
Balak, “Build here
seven altars for
me, and prepare
here seven bulls
and seven rams for
me.”
2 Balak
did as Balaam
had spoken; and
Balak and Balaam
offered on every
altar a bull
and a ram.
3 Balaam
said to Balak, “Stand
by your burnt
offering, and I
will go. Perhaps
the LORD will
come to meet
me. Whatever he
shows me I
will tell you.”
He went to
a bare height.
4 God met
Balaam, and he said
to him, “I have
prepared the seven
altars, and I have
offered up a
bull and a ram
on every altar.”
5 The
LORD put a
word in Balaam’s
mouth, and said,
“Return to Balak,
and thus you
shall speak.”
6 He
returned to him,
and behold, he
was standing by
his burnt offering,
he, and all
the princes of
Moab.
7 He
took up his
parable, and said,
“From Aram has
Balak brought me,
the king of
Moab from the
mountains of the
East.
Come, curse Jacob
for me.
Come, defy Israel.
8 How
shall I curse
whom God has
not cursed?
How shall I
defy whom the
LORD has not
defied?
9 For
from the top
of the rocks
I see him.
From the hills
I see him.
Behold, it is
a people that
dwells alone,
and shall not
be listed among
the nations.
10 Who
can count the
dust of Jacob,
or count the
fourth part of
Israel?
Let me die
the death of
the righteous!
Let my last end
be like his!”
11 Balak said
to Balaam, “What
have you done
to me? I
took you to
curse my enemies,
and behold, you
have blessed them
altogether.”
12 He
answered and said,
“Must I not
take heed to
speak that which
the LORD puts
in my mouth?”
13 Balak said
to him, “Please
come with me
to another place,
where you may
see them. You
shall see just
part of them,
and shall not
see them all.
Curse them from
there for me.”
14 He
took him into
the field of
Zophim, to the
top of Pisgah,
and built seven
altars, and
offered up a
bull and a ram
on every altar.
15 He said
to Balak, “Stand
here by your
burnt offering,
while I meet God
over there.”
16 The
LORD met Balaam,
and put a
word in his
mouth, and said,
“Return to Balak,
and say this.”
17 He
came to him,
and behold, he
was standing by
his burnt offering,
and the princes
of Moab with
him. Balak said
to him, “What
has the LORD
spoken?”
18 He
took up his
parable, and said,
“Rise up, Balak,
and hear!
Listen to me,
you son of
Zippor.
19 God
is not a
man, that he
should lie,
nor a son
of man, that
he should repent.
Has he said,
and he won’t do
it?
Or has he
spoken, and
he won’t make it
good?
20 Behold,
I have received
a command to bless.
He has blessed,
and I can’t
reverse it.
21 He
has not seen
iniquity in Jacob.
Neither has he
seen perverseness
in Israel.
The LORD his
God is with
him.
The shout of
a king is
among them.
22 God brings
them out of
Egypt.
He has as
it were the
strength of the
wild ox.
23 Surely there
is no enchantment
with Jacob;
neither is there
any divination
with Israel.
Now it shall
be said of Jacob
and of Israel,
‘What has God
done!’
24 Behold,
a people rises
up as a
lioness.
As a lion
he lifts himself
up.
He shall not
lie down until
he eats of the
prey,
and drinks the
blood of the
slain.”
25 Balak said
to Balaam, “Neither
curse them at
all, nor bless
them at all.”
26 But
Balaam answered
Balak, “Didn’t I
tell you, saying,
‘All that the
LORD speaks, that
I must do’?”
27 Balak said
to Balaam, “Come
now, I will
take you to another
place; perhaps it
will please God
that you may
curse them for
me from there.”
28 Balak
took Balaam to
the top of
Peor, that looks
down on the
desert.
29 Balaam said
to Balak, “Build
seven altars for
me here, and
prepare seven
bulls and
seven rams for me
here.”
30 Balak
did as Balaam
had said, and
offered up a
bull and a ram
on every altar.