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Numbers 23 : 1 - 30
Chapter 23
1 | Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams." |
2 | And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. |
3 | Then 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." |
5 | Then the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak." |
6 | So he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab. |
7 | And 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? |
9 | For 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!" |
11 | Then Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!" |
12 | So he answered and said, "Must I not take heed to speak what the LORD has put in my mouth?" |
13 | Then 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." |
14 | So 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. |
15 | And he said to Balak, "Stand here by your burnt offering while I meet the LORD over there." |
16 | Then the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, "Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak." |
17 | So 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?" |
18 | Then 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? |
20 | Behold, I have received a command 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 there is no sorcery against Jacob, Nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob And of Israel, "Oh, what God has done!' |
24 | Look, 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." |
25 | Then Balak said to Balaam, "Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!" |
26 | So Balaam answered and said to Balak, "Did I not tell you, saying, "All that the LORD speaks, that I must do'?" |
27 | Then 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." |
28 | So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks the wasteland. |
29 | Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams." |
30 | And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar. |