23:1 1 Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 23:2 So Balak did just as Balaam had said. Balak and Balaam then offered on each 2 altar a bull and a ram. 23:3 Balaam said to Balak, “Station yourself 3 by your burnt offering, and I will go off; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he reveals to me 4 I will tell you.” 5 Then he went to a deserted height. 6
23:4 Then God met Balaam, who 7 said to him, “I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 23:5 Then the Lord put a message 8 in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.” 9
23:6 So he returned to him, and he was still 10 standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab. 23:7 Then Balaam 11 uttered 12 his oracle, saying,
“Balak, the king of Moab, brought me 13 from Aram,
out of the mountains of the east, saying,
‘Come, pronounce a curse on Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.’ 14
23:8 How 15 can I curse 16 one whom God has not cursed,
or how can I denounce one whom the Lord has not denounced?
23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see them; 17
from the hills I watch them. 18
Indeed, a nation that lives alone,
and it will not be reckoned 19 among the nations.
23:10 Who 20 can count 21 the dust 22 of Jacob,
Or number 23 the fourth part of Israel?
Let me 24 die the death of the upright, 25
and let the end of my life 26 be like theirs.” 27
23:11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but on the contrary 28 you have only blessed them!” 29 23:12 Balaam replied, 30 “Must I not be careful 31 to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?” 32 23:13 Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you can observe them. You will see only a part of them, but you will not see all of them. Curse them for me from there.”
23:14 So Balak brought Balaam 33 to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, 34 where 35 he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 23:15 And Balaam 36 said to Balak, “Station yourself here 37 by your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord there. 23:16 Then the Lord met Balaam and put a message 38 in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.” 23:17 When Balaam 39 came to him, he was still standing by his burnt offering, along with the princes of Moab. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”
23:18 Balaam 40 uttered 41 his oracle, and said,
“Rise up, 42 Balak, and hear;
Listen to me, son of Zippor:
23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie,
nor a human being, 43 that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen? 44
23:20 Indeed, I have received a command 45 to bless;
he has blessed, 46 and I cannot reverse it. 47
23:21 He 48 has not looked on iniquity in Jacob, 49
nor has he seen trouble 50 in Israel.
The Lord their God is with them;
his acclamation 51 as king is among them.