23:1 Balaam said to Balak, “Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams.”
23:2 Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.
23:3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go: perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me; and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” He went to a bare height.
23:4 God met Balaam: and he said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.”
23:5 Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
23:6 He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.
23:7 He took up his parable, and said, “From Aram has Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East. Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, defy Israel.
23:8 How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied?
23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.
23:10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!”
23:11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether.”
23:12 He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?”
23:13 Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you may see them; you shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all: and curse me them from there.”
23:14 He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.
23:15 He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet over there.”
23:16 Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.”
23:17 He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh spoken?”
23:18 He took up his parable, and said, “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor.
23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?
23:20 Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it.
23:21 He has not seen iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. Yahweh his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them.
23:22 God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.
23:23 Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; Neither is there any divination with Israel. Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God done!
23:24 Behold, the people rises up as a lioness, As a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.”
23:25 Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.”
23:26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do?’”
23:27 Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse me them from there.”
23:28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert.
23:29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams.”
23:30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.
24:1 When Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel, he didn’t go, as at the other times, to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.
24:2 Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came on him.
24:3 He took up his parable, and said, “Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eye was closed says;
24:4 he says, who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open:
24:5 How goodly are your tents, Jacob, and your tents, Israel!
24:6 As valleys they are spread forth, as gardens by the riverside, as aloes which Yahweh has planted, as cedar trees beside the waters.
24:7 Water shall flow from his buckets. His seed shall be in many waters. His king shall be higher than Agag. His kingdom shall be exalted.
24:8 God brings him out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. He shall eat up the nations his adversaries, shall break their bones in pieces, and pierce them with his arrows.
24:9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? Everyone who blesses you is blessed. Everyone who curses you is cursed.”
24:10 Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have altogether blessed them these three times.
24:11 Therefore now flee you to your place! I thought to promote you to great honor; but, behold, Yahweh has kept you back from honor.”
24:12 Balaam said to Balak, “Didn’t I also tell your messengers who you sent to me, saying,
24:13 ‘If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond the word of Yahweh, to do either good or bad of my own mind. I will say what Yahweh says’?
24:14 Now, behold, I go to my people: come, I will inform you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days.”
24:15 He took up his parable, and said, “Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eye was closed says;
24:16 he says, who hears the words of God, knows the knowledge of the Most High, and who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, and having his eyes open:
24:17 I see him, but not now. I see him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel, and shall strike through the corners of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheth.
24:18 Edom shall be a possession. Seir, his enemies, also shall be a possession, while Israel does valiantly.
24:19 Out of Jacob shall one have dominion, and shall destroy the remnant from the city.”
24:20 He looked at Amalek, and took up his parable, and said, “Amalek was the first of the nations, But his latter end shall come to destruction.”
24:21 He looked at the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, “Your dwelling place is strong. Your nest is set in the rock.
24:22 Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, until Asshur carries you away captive.”
24:23 He took up his parable, and said, “Alas, who shall live when God does this?
24:24 But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim. They shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber. He also shall come to destruction.”
24:25 Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.