Numbers 23

23 ¹ Balaam told Balak, "Build me seven altars, prepare seven bulls and seven rams."

² Balak did as Balaam said; both offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ³ Balaam told Balak, "Stand by your burnt offering while I go; maybe God will meet me, and I'll tell you whatever he shows me." Then he went to a bare height.

⁴ Our Father met Balaam, who said to him, "I have set up seven altars and offered a bull and ram on each altar."

⁵ Our Father put a word in Balaam's mouth: "Return to Balak and say this."

⁶ He went back to Balak — there Balak stood beside his burnt offering, with all the princes of Moab. ⁷ He took up his oracle and said: 'From Aram Balak brought me, Moab's king from the eastern mountains: Come, curse Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel.' ⁸ How can I curse those our Father has not cursed? How can I denounce those our Father has not denounced? ⁹ From the top of the rocks I see them, from the hills I look on them: a people dwelling alone, not counting itself among the nations. ¹⁰ Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die as the upright die, and let my end be like theirs!

¹¹ Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, and look—you've only blessed them!"

¹² He answered, "Must I not be careful to say what God puts in my mouth?"

Our Father's Word Stands Firm

¹³ Then Balak said, "Come with me to another place, where you'll see only their edge, not all of them, and curse them for me from there."

¹⁴ He took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each. ¹⁵ Balaam said to Balak, "Stand here by your burnt offering while I meet with him over there."

¹⁶ Our Father met Balaam, put a word in his mouth, and said, "Return to Balak and say this."

¹⁷ He came to him — there, standing by his burnt offering, with Moab's princes. Balak said to him, "What has God spoken?"

¹⁸ He took up his oracle: Rise, Balak, and hear; listen to me, son of Zippor: ¹⁹ Our Father is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he ever said something and not done it? Has he ever spoken and not fulfilled it? ²⁰ Look, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I cannot revoke it. ²¹ He has seen no misfortune in Jacob, nor seen trouble in Israel. Our Father is with him, and the shout of a King is among them. ^a a v21 The shout of a King: Israel's God reigns over them as King, and his triumphant cry goes before them into battle. ²² Our Father, who brought them out of Egypt, is for them like the horns of the wild ox. ^b b v22 The wild ox was a massive, now-extinct animal; its horns pictured raw, untameable strength. ²³ There is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel. Now it will be said of Jacob and of Israel, 'See what our Father has done!' ²⁴ Look, a people rising up like a lioness, rousing itself like a lion; it will not lie down until it devours the prey and drinks the blood of the slain."

²⁵ Balak said to Balaam, "Don't curse them at all, and don't bless them at all!"

²⁶ But Balaam answered Balak, "Didn't I tell you I must do all that God says?"

²⁷ Balak said to Balaam, "Come, let me take you elsewhere. Maybe God will let you curse them for me from there.

²⁸ So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland. ²⁹ Balaam told Balak, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams here."

³⁰ Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.