Numbers, 23

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

1. And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.

2. Balak did as Balaam said and offered a burnt offering of one bull and one ram on each altar.

2. And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on [every] altar a bullock and a ram.

3. Balaam then said to Balak, 'Stand beside your burnt offerings while I go away. Perhaps Yahweh will come and meet me. If he does, I shall tell you whatever he reveals to me.' And he withdrew to a bare hill.

3. And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the LORD will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place.

4. God came to meet Balaam, who said to him, 'I have prepared the seven altars and offered a burnt offering of one bull and one ram on each altar.'

4. And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon [every] altar a bullock and a ram.

5. Yahweh then put a prophecy into his mouth and said to him, 'Go back to Balak, and that is what you must say to him.'

5. And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.

6. So Balaam went back to him, and found him still standing beside his burnt offering, with all the chiefs of Moab.

6. And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.

7. He then declaimed his poem as follows: Balak has brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the hills of Kedem: 'Come and curse Jacob for me, come and denounce Israel!'

7. And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, [saying], Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.

8. How shall I curse someone whom God has not cursed, how denounce someone God has not denounced?

8. How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, [whom] the LORD hath not defied?

9. Yes, from the top of the crags I see him, from the hills I descry him: a people that dwells on its own, not to be reckoned among other nations!

9. For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

10. Who can count the dust of Jacob? Who can number the cloud of Israel? May I die the death of the just, and may my future be like theirs!

10. Who can count 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. Balak said to Balaam, 'What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, and you have heaped blessings on them!'

11. And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed [them] altogether.

12. Balaam replied, 'Am I to depart from what Yahweh puts into my mouth?'

12. And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth?

13. Balak then said, 'Please come somewhere else. From here you can see only the fringe of them, you cannot see them all. Curse them for me over there.'

13. And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence.

14. He led him to the Lookouts' Field on the top of Pisgah. There he built seven altars and offered a burnt offering of one bull and one ram on each altar.

14. And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on [every] altar.

15. Balaam said to Balak, 'Stand here beside your burnt offerings while I wait over there.'

15. And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet [the LORD] yonder.

16. God came to meet Balaam, he put a prophecy into his mouth and said to him, 'Go back to Balak, and that is what you must say to him.'

16. And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus.

17. So Balaam went to him and found him still standing beside his burnt offering and all the chiefs of Moab with him. 'What did Yahweh say?' Balak said to him.

17. And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the LORD spoken?

18. Balaam then declaimed his poem, as follows: Stand up, Balak, and listen, give ear to me, son of Zippor.

18. And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:

19. God is no human being that he should lie, no child of Adam to change his mind. Is it his to say and not to do, is it his to speak and not fulfil?

19. God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

20. The charge laid on me is to bless, I shall bless, and I cannot reverse it.

20. Behold, I have received [commandment] to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.

21. I have perceived no guilt in Jacob, have seen no perversity in Israel. Yahweh his God is with him, and a royal acclamation to greet him.

21. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God [is] with him, and the shout of a king [is] among them.

22. God has brought him out of Egypt, is like the wild ox's horns to him.

22. God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.

23. There is no omen whatever against Jacob, no augury at all against Israel. Well may people say of Jacob, of Israel, 'What has God achieved?'

23. Surely [there is] no enchantment against Jacob, neither [is there] any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!

24. for here is a people like a lioness rising, poised like a lion to spring; nor will he lie down till he has devoured his prey and drunk the blood of his slain.

24. Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat [of] the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

25. Balak said to Balaam, 'Very well! Do not curse them. But at least do not bless them!'

25. And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.

26. Balaam retorted to Balak, 'Did I not tell you? Whatever Yahweh says, I must do.'

26. But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?

27. Balak then said to Balaam, 'Come with me now and I shall take you somewhere else. From there perhaps it will please God to curse them for me.'

27. And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.

28. So Balak led Balaam to the summit of Peor, overlooking the wastelands.

28. And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon.

29. Balaam then said to Balak, 'Build me seven altars here and prepare me seven bulls and seven rams.'

29. And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.

30. Balak did as Balaam said and offered a burnt offering of one bull and one ram on each altar.

30. And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on [every] altar.