¹Balaam said to Balak , “Build here seven altars for me , and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me .”

²Balak did as Balaam had spoken ; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.

³Balaam said to Balak , “Stand by your burnt offering , and I will go . Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me . Whatever he shows me I will tell you .”

He went to a bare height.

⁴God 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 .”

⁵The LORD put a word in Balaam ’s mouth , and said , “Return to Balak , and thus you shall speak .”

⁶He returned to him , and behold , he was standing by his burnt offering , he , and all the princes of Moab .

⁷He 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 .

⁸How shall I curse whom God has not cursed ?

How shall I defy whom the LORD has not defied ?

⁹For 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 listed amongst the nations .

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob ,

or count the fourth part of Israel ?

Let me die the death of the righteous !

Let my last end be like his !”

¹¹Balak said to Balaam , “What have you done to me ? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold , you have blessed them altogether .”

¹²He answered and said , “Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD puts in my mouth ?”

¹³Balak said to him , “Please come with me to another place , where you may see them . You shall see just part of them , and shall not see them all . Curse them from there for me .”

¹⁴He 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 .

¹⁵He said to Balak , “Stand here by your burnt offering , while I meet God over there .”

¹⁶The LORD met Balaam , and put a word in his mouth , and said , “Return to Balak , and say this .”

¹⁷He 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 the LORD spoken ?”

¹⁸He took up his parable , and said ,

“Rise up , Balak , and hear !

Listen to me , you son of Zippor .

¹⁹God is not a man , that he should lie ,

nor a son of man , that he should repent .

Has he said , and he won’t do it ?

Or has he spoken , and he won’t make it good ?

²⁰Behold , I have received a command to bless .

He has blessed , and I can ’t reverse it .

²¹He has not seen iniquity in Jacob .

Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel .

The LORD his God is with him .

The shout of a king is amongst them .

²²God brings them out of Egypt .

He has as it were the strength of the wild ox .

²³Surely 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 !’

²⁴Behold , a people rises up as a lioness .

As a lion he lifts himself up .

He shall not lie down until he eats of the prey ,

and drinks the blood of the slain .”

²⁵Balak said to Balaam , “Neither curse them at all , nor bless them at all .”

²⁶But Balaam answered Balak , “Didn’t I tell you , saying , ‘All that the LORD speaks , that I must do ’?”

²⁷Balak 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 .”

²⁸Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor , that looks down on the desert .

²⁹Balaam said to Balak , “Build seven altars for me here , and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here .”

³⁰Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar .