1Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” 2Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height. 4God met with him, and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.” 5The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.” 6So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials. 7Then Balaam spoke his message: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel.’ 8How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced? 9From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations. 10Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my final end be like theirs!” 11Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!” 12He answered, “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”
Balaam’s Second Message
13Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp. And from there, curse them for me.” 14So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 15Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.” 16The Lord met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.” 17So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials. Balak asked him, “What did the Lord say?” 18Then he spoke his message: “Arise, Balak, and listen; hear me, son of Zippor. 19God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? 20I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it. 21“No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed⚓ in Israel. The Lord their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them. 22God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox. 23There is no divination against⚓ Jacob, no evil omens against⚓ Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’ 24The people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest till it devours its prey and drinks the blood of its victims.” 25Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!” 26Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the Lord says?”
Balaam’s Third Message
27Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.” 28And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland. 29Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” 30Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
23
1Then Balaam said to Balak, ⚓“Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 2And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam ⚓offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3Then Balaam said to Balak, ⚓“Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come ⚓to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a desolate height. 4⚓And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 5Then the Lord⚓put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 6So he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab. 7And he ⚓took up his oracle and said: “Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, From the mountains of the east. ⚓‘Come, curse Jacob for me, And come, ⚓denounce Israel!’ 8“How⚓ shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced? 9For from the top of the rocks I see him, And from the hills I behold him; There! ⚓A people dwelling alone, ⚓Not reckoning itself among the nations. 10“Who⚓ can count the dust of Jacob, Or number one-fourth of Israel? Let me die ⚓the death of the righteous, And let my end be like his!” 11Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? ⚓I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!” 12So he answered and said, ⚓“Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?”
Balaam’s Second Prophecy
13Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only the outer part of them, and shall not see them all; curse them for me from there.” 14So he brought him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, ⚓and built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 15And he said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering while I meet theLord over there.” 16Then the Lord met Balaam, and ⚓put a word in his mouth, and said, “Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 17So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?” 18Then he took up his oracle and said: ⚓“Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, 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 will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? 20Behold, I have received acommand to bless; ⚓He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. 21“He⚓ has not observed iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, ⚓And the shout of a King is among them. 22⚓God brings them out of Egypt; He has ⚓strength like a wild ox. 23“For thereis no sorcery against Jacob, Nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob And of Israel, ‘Oh, ⚓what God has done!’ 24Look, a people rises ⚓like a lioness, And lifts itself up like a lion; ⚓It shall not lie down until it devours the prey, And drinks the blood of the slain.” 25Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!” 26So Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ⚓‘All that the Lord speaks, that I must do’?”
Balaam’s Third Prophecy
27Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” 28So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that ⚓overlooks the wasteland. 29Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 30And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.