Números 23

Balaam’s first and second oracles

¹Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and get seven bulls and seven rams ready for me here.” ²Balak did as Balaam said, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ³Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I go. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me, I will tell you.” And he went off to a bare hill.^{a 4}God met Balaam, and Balaam said to him, “I have set up the seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.” ⁵The LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and say this.” ⁶So he went back to Balak and found him standing beside his burnt offering with all the officials of Moab. ⁷Then Balaam spoke his oracle: \q “Balak, king of Moab, brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east: \q ‘Come, curse Jacob for me; \q come, condemn Israel.’ ⁸How can I curse a people God has not cursed? \q How can I condemn a people the LORD has not condemned? ⁹From the tops of the rocks I see them; \q from the hills I watch them. \q Here is a people that lives apart \q and does not count itself as one of the nations. ¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob \q or number even a fourth of Israel? \q Let me die the death of the upright, \q and may my end be like theirs!”^{b 11}Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and instead you have done nothing but bless them!” ¹²Balaam answered, “Do I not have to be careful to say what the LORD puts in my mouth?” ¹³Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will see only the outer edge of them, not all of them. Curse them for me from there.”^{c 14}So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah. There he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ¹⁵Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I go over there to meet with God.” ¹⁶The LORD met Balaam, put a message in his mouth, and said, “Go back to Balak and say this.” ¹⁷So he came to Balak and found him standing beside his burnt offering with the officials of Moab. Balak asked him, “What did the LORD say?” ¹⁸Then Balaam spoke his oracle: \q “Rise, Balak, and listen; \q hear me, son of Zippor. ¹⁹God is not a human, who might lie, \q nor a mortal, who might change course. \q Would he say something and not do it? \q Would he speak and not make it happen? ²⁰Look, I was given orders to bless; \q he has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.^{d 21}He sees no disaster for Jacob \q and no trouble for Israel. \q The LORD their God is with them, \q and the shout for a king rings out among them.^{e 22}God brought them out of Egypt; \q they have strength like the horns of a wild ox.^{f 23}No omen can work against Jacob, \q no divination against Israel. \q Now it will be said of Jacob and of Israel, \q ‘See what God has done!’^{g 24}Here is a people that rises up like a lioness \q and rouses itself like a lion. \q It does not lie down until it has eaten its prey \q and drunk the blood of the slain.” ²⁵Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all!” ²⁶Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you that I must do whatever the LORD says?” ²⁷Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come, please, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.” ²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the Jeshimon. ²⁹Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and get seven bulls and seven rams ready for me here.” ³⁰Balak did as Balaam said, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.