Chapter 23
1
And Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams."
2
Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
3
Balaam said to Balak, "Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the LORD will happen to meet me, and whatever he shows me, I will tell you." And he went, his lip attentive.
4
And God met Balaam, and he said to him, "I have prepared the seven altars and have offered a bull and a ram on each altar."
5
The LORD put a word in the mouth of Balaam, and he said, "Return to Balak, and this is what you shall speak."
6
He returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the chiefs of Moab.
7
He lifted up his oracle and said: From Aram Balak brought me, the king of Moab, from the mountains of the east. Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, rage against Israel.
8
How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?
9
For from the top of the rocks we have seen him, and from the hills we have viewed him. Look, a people that dwells alone, and among the nations it does not consider itself one of them.
10
Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth of Israel? May my nephesh die the death of the upright ones, and may 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 look, you have blessed them instead."
12
He answered and said, "Must I not keep what the LORD puts in my mouth to speak it?"