NUMBERS 23

*Then Balaam said to Balak, Build seven altars for me here, and make seven young bulls and seven rams ready for me here. 2 And Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 And Balaam said to Balak, Stand beside your burnt-offering, and I will go away; perhaps Yehowah will come to meet me; and whatever he shows me I will tell you. And he went to a place apart.** 4 And God met Balaam; and Balaam said to him, I have prepared the seven altars, and have offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 5 And Yehowah put words in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and speak in this way. 6 So he returned to him, and he was still standing beside his burnt-offering, together with all the princes of Moab. 7 Then he took up his prophecy, and said, * In the printed text this paragraph is connected to and part of the last paragraph in the previous chapter. ** lit bare place

From Aram Balak has brought me, the king of Moab, from the eastern mountains:

Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, rage against Israel. 8 How can I curse what God has not cursed? How can I rage against what Yehowah has not raged against?

9 For from rocky crags I see him, and from rounded hills I look on him;

see, a people dwelling alone, not reckoning itself among the nations. 10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number a quarter of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright ones, and let my end be like his!

11 Then Balak said to Balaam, What have you done to me? I fetched you to curse my enemies, and see, you have done nothing but bless them. 12 And be answered and said, Must I not take care to speak what Yehowah puts in my mouth?

13 And Balak said to him, Come now with me to another place, from which you may see them; you shall see only the nearest of them, and not see them all; and curse them for me from there. 14 And he took Balaam to the fields of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a young bull and a ram on each altar. 15 And Balaam said to Balak, Stand here beside your burnt-offering, while I go over there. 16 And Yehowah met Balaam, and put words in his mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and speak in this way. 17 So he came to him, and he was still standing beside his burnt-offering, together with the princes of Moab. And Balak said to him, What has Yehowah declared? 18 Then he took up his prophecy, and said,

Rise up, Balak, and hear;

listen to me, O son of Zippor:

19 God is not man, that he should lie, or son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not act? Or has he spoken, and will he not carry it out? 20 See, I received a command to bless:

and he has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. 21 He has not beheld sorrow in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel. Yehowah his God is with him, and the homage of a king is his. 22 God brings them out of Egypt;

he exerts for them the strength of a wild bull. 23 For there can be no divination against Jacob, nor any enchantment against Israel. Then shall it be told to Jacob and Israel how God has worked. 24 See, a people shall rise up like an old lion, and like a lion shall he lift himself;

he shall not lie down until he eats the prey and drinks the blood of the slain.

25 And Balak said to Balaam, Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all. 26 But Balaam answered and said to Balak, Did I not tell you, when I said, I must do all that Yehowah speaks? 27 And Balak said to Balaam, Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be right in God's eyes that you should curse them for me from there. 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks Jeshimon. 29 And Balaam said to Balak, Build seven altars for me here, and make seven young bulls and seven rams ready for me here. 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.