Numbers 23

Balaam's First Oracle

¹ Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me." ² Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ³ Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here beside your burnt offerings while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you." And he went to a bare height. ⁴ Then God met Balaam; and Balaam said to him, "I have arranged the seven altars, and have offered a bull and a ram on each altar." ⁵ The Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and this is what you must say." ⁶ So he returned to Balak, ₁ who was standing beside his burnt offerings with all the officials of Moab.

⁷ Then Balaam ₂ uttered his oracle, saying:

"Balak has brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
"Come, curse Jacob for me;
Come, denounce Israel!'
⁸ How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?
⁹ For from the top of the crags I see him,
from the hills I behold him.
Here is a people living alone,
and not reckoning itself among the nations!
¹⁰ Who can count the dust of Jacob,
or number the dust-cloud ₃ of Israel?
Let me die the death of the upright,
and let my end be like his!"

¹¹ Then Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them." ¹² He answered, "Must I not take care to say what the Lord puts into my mouth?"

Balaam's Second Oracle

¹³ So Balak said to him, "Come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only part of them, and shall not see them all; then curse them for me from there." ¹⁴ So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah. He built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ¹⁵ Balaam said to Balak, "Stand here beside your burnt offerings, while I meet the Lord over there." ¹⁶ The Lord met Balaam, put a word into his mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and this is what you shall say." ¹⁷ When he came to him, he was standing beside his burnt offerings with the officials of Moab. Balak said to him, "What has the Lord said?"

¹⁸ Then Balaam uttered his oracle, saying:

"Rise, Balak, and hear;
listen to me, O son of Zippor:
¹⁹ God is not a human being, that he should lie,
or a mortal, that he should change his mind.
Has he promised, and will he not do it?
Has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
²⁰ See, I received a command to bless;
he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
²¹ He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob;
nor has he seen trouble in Israel.
The Lord their God is with them,
acclaimed as a king among them.
²² God, who brings them out of Egypt,
is like the horns of a wild ox for them.
²³ Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob,
no divination against Israel;
now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,
"See what God has done!'
²⁴ Look, a people rising up like a lioness,
and rousing itself like a lion!
It does not lie down until it has eaten the prey
and drunk the blood of the slain."

²⁵ Then Balak said to Balaam, "Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all." ²⁶ But Balaam answered Balak, "Did I not tell you, "Whatever the Lord says, that is what I must do'?" ²⁷ So 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 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland. ₄ ²⁹ Balaam said to Balak, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me." ³⁰ So Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.