1
And Balaam said to Balak, Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.
2
And Balak did as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
3
And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps Jehovah will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will declare to you. So he went to a barren height.
4
And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.
5
And Jehovah put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.
6
And he returned to him, and lo, he was standing by his burnt offering, he and all the rulers of Moab.
7
And he took up his parable and said: Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse Jacob for me; and come, denounce Israel!
8
How shall I curse whom the Mighty God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom Jehovah has not denounced?
9
For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him. Behold, a people dwelling alone, not being reckoned among the nations.
10
Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number one-fourth of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his!
11
And Balak said to Balaam, What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and lo, you have blessed them to be adored!
12
And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak what Jehovah has put in my mouth?
13
And Balak said to him, Please come with me to another place from which you can see them; you shall see only the extremity of them, and shall not see them all; curse them for me from there.
14
And he brought 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.
15
And he said to Balak, Stand here by your burnt offering while I meet over there.
16
And Jehovah met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.
17
And he came to him, and lo, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the rulers of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, What has Jehovah spoken?
18
And he took up his parable and said: Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor!
19
The Mighty God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should be sorry. Has He said, and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good?
20
Behold, I have been chosen to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
21
He has not observed trouble in Jacob, nor has He seen toil in Israel. Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them.
22
The Mighty God who brings them out of Egypt is like the lofty horns of an oryx.
23
For there is no omen against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, Oh, what the Mighty God has done!
24
Behold, the people rise like a lioness, and lifts itself up like a lion; it shall not lie down until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.
25
And Balak said to Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!
26
And Balaam answered and said to Balak, Did I not speak to you, saying, All that Jehovah speaks, that I must do?
27
And Balak said to Balaam, Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be agreeable in God's eyes for you to curse them for me from there.
28
So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down facing the wilderness.
29
And Balaam said to Balak, Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.
30
And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.
