Numbers 23
Revised Geneva Translation
23 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bullocks and seven rams.”
2 And Balak did as Balaam said. And Balak and Balaam offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.
3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your Burnt Offering. And I will go, if the LORD will come meet me. And whatever He shows me, I will tell you.” So he went forth alone.
4 And God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, “I have prepared seven altars and have offered a bullock and a ram upon every altar.”
5 And the LORD put an answer in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Go back to Balak and say the same.”
6 So, when he turned to him, lo, he stood by his Burnt Offering (he and all the princes of Moab).
7 Then he uttered his parable, and said, “Balak the King of Moab has brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, ‘Come, curse Jacob for my sake. Come, and detest Israel.’
8 “How shall I curse where God has not cursed? Or how shall I detest where the LORD has not detested?
9 “For from the top of the rocks I saw him, and from the hills I beheld him. Lo, the people shall dwell by themselves and shall not be reckoned among the nations.
10 “Who can tell 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.”
11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies. And behold, you have blessed them altogether.”
12 And he answered, and said, “Must I not be careful to speak that which the LORD has put in my mouth?”
13 And Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, and you shall see only the outer part of them and shall not see them all. Therefore, curse them out of that place, for my sake.”
14 And he brought him into Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.
15 Afterward, he said to Balak, “Stand here by your Burnt Offering, and I will meet the LORD yonder.”
16 And the LORD met Balaam, and put an answer in his mouth, and said, “Go again to Balak, and say this.”
17 And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his Burnt Offering, and the princes of Moab with him. So Balak said to him, “What has the LORD said?”
18 And he uttered his parable, and said, “Rise up Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor!
19 “God is not as man, that He should lie; nor as the son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and shall not do it? And has He spoken, and shall not accomplish it?
20 “Behold, I have received Commandment to bless. For He has blessed. And I cannot alter it.
21 “He sees no iniquity in Jacob or transgression in Israel. The LORD his God is with him, and the joyful shout of a King is among them.
22 “God brought them out of Egypt, their strength as a unicorn.
23 “For there is no sorcery in Jacob, nor soothsaying in Israel. According to this time it shall be said of Jacob, and of Israel, ‘What has God wrought?’
24 “Behold, the people shall rise up as a lion, and lift himself up as a young lion. He shall not lie down till he eats of the prey, and till he drinks the blood of the slain.”
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse nor bless them at all.”
26 But Balaam answered, and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘All that the LORD speaks, that must I do?’”
27 Again Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will bring you to another place if it pleases God that from there you may curse them for my sake.”
28 So Balak brought Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks toward Jeshimon.
29 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Make seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bullocks for me here, and seven rams.
30 And Balak did as Balaam had said and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.
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