Numbers - Chapter 23

1And Balaam said to Balak, Make me here seven altars and get ready seven oxen and seven male sheep. 2And Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam made an offering on every altar of an ox and a male sheep. 3Then Balaam said to Balak, Take your place by your burned offering, and I will go and see if the Lord comes to me: and I will give you word of whatever he says to me. And he went to an open place on a hill. 4And God came to Balaam, and Balaam said to him, I have made ready seven altars, offering an ox and a male sheep on every altar. 5And the Lord put words in Balaam's mouth, and said, Go back to Balak, and this is what you are to say. 6So he went back to him where he was waiting by his burned offering with all the chiefs of Moab. 7And in the words which the Lord had given him he said, From Aram Balak has sent for me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East: come, put curses on Jacob for me and be angry with Israel. 8How may I put curses on him who is not cursed by God? how may I be angry with him with whom the Lord is not angry? 9From the top of the rocks I see him, looking down on him from the hills: it is a people made separate, not to be numbered among the nations. 10Who is able to take the measure of the dust of Jacob or the number of the thousands of Israel? May my death be the death of the upright and my last end like his! 11Then Balak said to Balaam, What have you done to me? I sent for you so that my haters might be cursed, and see, you have given them a blessing. 12And in answer he said, Am I not ordered to say only what the Lord puts into my mouth? 13And Balak said to him, Come with me now into another place from which you will not be able to see them all, but only the outskirts of them; and you will send curses on them from there. 14So he took him into the country of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and there they made seven altars, offering an ox and a male sheep on every altar. 15Then he said to Balak, Take your place here by your burned offering, while I go over there to the Lord. 16And the Lord came to Balaam, and put words in his mouth, and said, Go back to Balak, and this is what you are to say. 17So he came to him where he was waiting by his burned offering with the chiefs of Moab by his side. And Balak said to him, What has the Lord said? 18And in the words which the Lord had given him he said, Up! Balak, and give ear; give attention to me, O son of Zippor: 19God is not a man, to say what is false; or the son of man, that his purpose may be changed: what he has said, will he not do? and will he not give effect to the words of his mouth? 20See, I have had orders to give blessing: and he has given a blessing which I have no power to take away. 21He has seen no evil in Jacob or wrongdoing in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the glad cry of a king is among them. 22It is God who has taken them out of Egypt; his horns are like those of the mountain ox. 23No evil power has effect against Jacob, no secret arts against Israel; at the right time it will be said of Jacob and of Israel, See what God has done! 24See, Israel comes up like a she-lion, lifting himself up like a lion: he will take no rest till he has made a meal of those he has overcome, drinking the blood of those he has put to death. 25Then Balak said to Balaam, If you will not put a curse on them, at all events do not give them a blessing. 26But Balaam in answer said to Balak, Did I not say to you, I may only do what the Lord says? 27Then Balak said to Balaam, Come now, I will take you to another place; it may be that God will let you put a curse on them from there. 28So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, looking down over the waste land. 29And Balaam said to Balak, Make me seven altars here and get seven oxen and seven male sheep ready for me. 30And Balak did as Balaam said, offering an ox and a male sheep on every altar.