Numbers 23
1And
Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.
2And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar
a bullock and a ram.
3And Balaam said unto
Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the LORD will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me
I will tell thee. And he went to an high place.
4And
God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram.
5And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth,
and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.
6And
he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.
7And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from
Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.
8How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD
hath not defied?
9For from the top of the
rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.
10Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the
number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!
11And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse
mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.
12And
he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth?
13And 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.
14And he brought him into the field
of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.
15And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the LORD
yonder.
16And the LORD met Balaam, and put
a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus.
17And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him.
And Balak said unto him, What hath the LORD spoken?
18And
he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:
19God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should
repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
20Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot
reverse it.
21He hath not beheld iniquity
in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.
22God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as
it were the strength of an unicorn.
23Surely
there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be
said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!
24Behold,
the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey,
and drink the blood of the slain.
25And Balak
said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.
26But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that
I must do?
27And Balak said unto Balaam, Come,
I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.
28And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of
Peor, that looketh toward jeshimon.
29And
Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.
30And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.