CHAPTER 23
Then Balaam
said
to
Balak,
“Build
me
seven
altars
here,
and prepare
for me
seven
bulls
and seven
rams.”
“Stay
here by
your burnt offering
while I am gone,”
Balaam
said
to Balak.
“Perhaps
the LORD
will meet with me.
And whatever
He reveals to me,
I will tell
you.”
So Balaam went off
to a barren height,
and God
met
with
him.
“I have set up
seven
altars,”
Balaam said,
“and on each altar
I have offered
a bull
and a ram.”
Then the LORD
put
a message
in Balaam’s
mouth,
saying,
“Return
to
Balak
and
give him this message.”
So he returned
to Balak,
who
was standing
there
beside
his burnt offering,
with all
the princes
of Moab.
And Balaam lifted up
an oracle,
saying:
“Balak
brought
me from
Aram,
the king
of Moab
from the mountains
of the east.
‘Come,’ he said,
‘put a curse
on Jacob
for me;
come,
denounce
Israel!’
For
I see them
from atop
the rocky cliffs,
and I watch them
from the hills.
Behold,
a people
dwelling
apart,
who will not
reckon themselves
among the nations.
Who
can count
the dust
of Jacob
or number
even a fourth
of Israel?
Let me
die
the death
of the righteous;
let my end
be
like theirs!”
“What
have you done to me?”
Balak
said
to
Balaam.
“I brought
you to curse
my enemies,
and behold,
you have only blessed
them!”
Then Balak
said
to him,
“Please come
with
me to
another
place
where
you can see them.
You will only
see
the outskirts of their camp—
not
all of them.
And from there,
curse them for me.”
So Balak took him
to the field
of Zophim,
to the
top
of Pisgah,
where he built
seven
altars
and offered
a bull
and a ram
on each altar.
And the LORD
met
with
Balaam
and put
a message
in his mouth,
saying,
“Return
to
Balak
and speak
what I tell you.”
So he returned
to Balak,
who was standing
there
by
his burnt offering
with
the princes
of Moab.
“What
did the LORD
say?”
Balak
asked.
Then Balaam lifted up
an oracle,
saying:
“Arise,
O Balak,
and listen;
give
ear to me,
O son
of Zippor.
God
is not
a man,
that He should lie,
or a son
of man,
that He should change His mind.
Does He
speak
and not
act?
Does He promise
and not
fulfill?
He considers
no
disaster
for Jacob;
He sees
no
trouble
for Israel.
The LORD
their God
is with them,
and the shout
of the King
is among them.
For
there is no
spell
against Jacob
and no
divination
against Israel.
It will now
be said
of Jacob
and Israel,
‘What
great things God
has done!’
Behold,
the people
rise
like a lioness;
they rouse themselves
like a lion,
not
resting
until
they devour
their prey
and drink
the blood
of the slain.”
“Please
come,”
said
Balak,
“I will take
you to
another
place.
Perhaps
it will please
God
that you curse them
for me
from there.”