Numbers 23

^{Numbers 23:1} And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.'

^{Numbers 23:2} And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.

^{Numbers 23:3} And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go; peradventure the LORD will come to meet me; and whatsoever He showeth me I will tell thee.' And he went to a bare height.

^{Numbers 23:4} And God met Balaam; and he said unto Him: 'I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.'

^{Numbers 23:5} And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said: 'Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.'

^{Numbers 23:6} And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.

^{Numbers 23:7} And he took up his parable, and said: From Aram Balak bringeth me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East: 'Come, curse me Jacob, and come, execrate Israel.'

^{Numbers 23:8} How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? And how shall I execrate, whom the LORD hath not execrated?

^{Numbers 23:9} For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

^{Numbers 23:10} Who hath counted the dust of Jacob, or numbered the stock of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let mine end be like his!

^{Numbers 23:11} And Balak said unto Balaam: 'What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.'

^{Numbers 23:12} And he answered and said: 'Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD putteth in my mouth?'

^{Numbers 23:13} And Balak said unto him: 'Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all; and curse me them from thence.'

^{Numbers 23:14} And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.

^{Numbers 23:15} And he said unto Balak: 'Stand here by thy burnt-offering, while I go toward a meeting yonder.'

^{Numbers 23:16} And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said: 'Return unto Balak, and thus shalt thou speak.'

^{Numbers 23:17} And he came to him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him: 'What hath the LORD spoken?'

^{Numbers 23:18} And he took up his parable, and said: Arise, Balak, and hear; give ear unto me, thou son of Zippor:

^{Numbers 23:19} God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: when He hath said, will He not do it? or when He hath spoken, will He not make it good?

^{Numbers 23:20} Behold, I am bidden to bless; and when He hath blessed, I cannot call it back.

^{Numbers 23:21} None hath beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath one seen perverseness in Israel; the LORD his God is with him, and the shouting for the King is among them.

^{Numbers 23:22} God who brought them forth out of Egypt is for them like the lofty horns of the wild-ox.

^{Numbers 23:23} For there is no enchantment with Jacob, neither is there any divination with Israel; now is it said of Jacob and of Israel: 'What hath God wrought!'

^{Numbers 23:24} Behold a people that riseth up as a lioness, and as a lion doth he lift himself up; he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

^{Numbers 23:25} And Balak said unto Balaam: 'Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.'

^{Numbers 23:26} But Balaam answered and said unto Balak: 'Told not I thee, saying: All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?'

^{Numbers 23:27} And Balak said unto Balaam: 'Come now, I will take thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.'

^{Numbers 23:28} And Balak took Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh down upon the desert.

^{Numbers 23:29} And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.'

^{Numbers 23:30} And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.