1Balaam said to Balak, ‘Build me seven altars here. Prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me to sacrifice.’2Balak did just as Balaam said. The two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.3Then Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stay here beside your offering. I’ll go and try to find out what the LORD wants me to do. Maybe he’ll come and meet with me. Then I’ll tell you what he says to me.’ So Balaam went off to a bare hilltop.4God met with him there. Balaam said, ‘I’ve prepared seven altars. On each altar I’ve offered a bull and a ram.’5The LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth. The LORD said, ‘Go back to Balak. Give him my message.’6So Balaam went back to him. He found Balak standing beside his offering. All the Moabite officials were with him.7Then Balaam spoke the message he had received from God. He said, ‘Balak brought me from the land of Aram. The king of Moab sent for me from the mountains in the east. “Come”, he said. “Put a curse on Jacob’s people for me. Come. Speak against Israel.”8But how can I put a curse on people God hasn’t cursed? How can I speak against people the LORD hasn’t spoken against?9I see them from the rocky peaks. I view them from the hills. I see a group of people who live by themselves. They don’t consider themselves to be one of the nations.10Jacob’s people are like the dust of the earth. Can dust be counted? Who can count even a quarter of the Israelites? Let me die as godly people die. Let my death be like theirs!’11Balak said to Balaam, ‘What have you done to me? I brought you here to put a curse on my enemies! But all you have done is give them a blessing!’12He answered, ‘I have to speak only the words the LORD puts in my mouth.’
Balaam’s second message from God
13Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘Come with me to another place. You can see the Israelites from there. You won’t see all of them. You will only see the outer edges of their camp. From there, put a curse on them for me.’14So Balak took Balaam to the field of Zophim. It was on the highest slopes of Pisgah. There Balak built seven altars. He offered a bull and a ram on each altar.15Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stay here beside your offering. I’ll meet with the LORD over there.’16The LORD met with Balaam. He put a message in Balaam’s mouth. The LORD said, ‘Go back to Balak. Give him my message.’17So Balaam went to Balak. He found him standing beside his offering. The Moabite officials were with him. Balak asked him, ‘What did the LORD say?’18Then Balaam spoke the message he had received from God. He said, ‘Balak, rise up and listen. Son of Zippor, hear me.19God isn’t a mere human. He can’t lie. He isn’t a human being. He doesn’t change his mind. He speaks, and then he acts. He makes a promise, and then he keeps it.20He has commanded me to bless Israel. He has given them his blessing. And I can’t change it.21‘I don’t see any trouble coming on the people of Jacob. I don’t see any suffering in Israel. The LORD their God is with them. The shout of the King is among them.22God brought them out of Egypt. They are as strong as a wild ox.23There isn’t any magic that can hurt the people of Jacob. No one can use magic words to harm Israel. Here is what will be said about the people of Jacob. Here is what will be said about Israel. People will say, “See what God has done!”24The Israelites are going to wake up like a female lion. They are going to get up like a male lion. They are like a lion that won’t rest until it eats what it has caught. They are like a lion that won’t rest until it drinks the blood of what it has killed.’25Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘Don’t put a curse on them at all! And don’t give them a blessing at all!’26Balaam answered, ‘Didn’t I tell you that I must do only what the LORD says?’
Balaam’s third message from God
27Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘Come. Let me take you to another place. Perhaps God will be pleased to let you put a curse on the Israelites for me from there.’28Balak took Balaam to the top of Mount Peor. It looks out over a dry and empty land.29Balaam said, ‘Build me seven altars here. Prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me to sacrifice.’30Balak did just as Balaam said. He offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
Numbers 23
English Standard Version
Balaam’s First Oracle
1And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” (Nu 23:29)2Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram. (Nu 23:14; Nu 23:30)3And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height, (Nu 23:15; Nu 24:1)4and God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” (Nu 23:16)5And the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” (Nu 22:38; Nu 23:12; Nu 23:16; De 18:18; Isa 51:16; Isa 59:21; Jer 1:9)6And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering.7And Balaam took up his discourse and said, “From Aram Balak has brought me, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains: ‘Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, denounce Israel!’ (Ge 29:1; Nu 21:27; Nu 22:5; Nu 22:6; Nu 23:18; Nu 24:3; Nu 24:15; Nu 24:20; Nu 24:23; Job 27:1; Job 29:1; Ps 49:4; Ps 78:2; Isa 14:4; Mic 2:4)8How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?9For from the top of the crags I see him, from the hills I behold him; behold, a people dwelling alone, and not counting itself among the nations! (Ex 33:16; Nu 24:17; De 32:28; Ezr 9:2; Es 3:8; Eph 2:14)10Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part[1] of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!” (Ge 13:16; Ps 37:37; Ps 116:15; Re 14:13)11And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” (Nu 22:11; Nu 24:10; De 23:5; Ne 13:2)12And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?” (Nu 23:5)
Balaam’s Second Oracle
13And Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there.”14And he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. (Nu 23:1)15Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord over there.” (Nu 23:3)16And the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.” (Nu 23:5; Nu 23:12)17And he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”18And Balaam took up his discourse and said, “Rise, Balak, and hear; give ear to me, O son of Zippor:19God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (1Sa 15:29; Mal 3:6; Ro 11:29; Tit 1:2; Heb 6:18; Jas 1:17)20Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it. (Ge 12:2; Ge 22:17; Nu 22:12; Nu 22:18)21He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The Lord their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them. (Jer 50:20)22God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of the wild ox. (Nu 24:8; De 33:17; Job 39:9; Ps 22:21; Ps 92:10)23For there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What has God wrought!’ (Nu 22:7; Ps 44:1)24Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises up and as a lion it lifts itself; it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey and drunk the blood of the slain.” (Ge 49:9; Ge 49:27)25And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.”26But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord says, that I must do’?” (Nu 22:18)27And Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” (Nu 23:13)28So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert.[2] (Nu 21:20; Nu 25:3; Nu 25:5; Nu 25:18; Nu 31:16; Jos 22:17; Ps 106:28; Ho 9:10)29And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” (Nu 23:1)30And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. (Nu 23:2)