Numbers

Balaam’s First Oracle

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

2So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

3“Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone,” Balaam said to Balak. “Perhaps the LORD will meet with me. And whatever He reveals to me, I will tell you.” So Balaam went off to a barren height,

4and God met with him. “I have set up seven altars,” Balaam said, “and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”

5Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and give him this message.”

6So he returned to Balak, who was standing there beside his burnt offering, with all the princes of Moab.

7And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram,the king of Moab from the mountains of the east.‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me;come and denounce Israel!’

8How can I curse those whom God has not cursed?How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?

9For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs,and I watch them from the hills.Behold, a people dwelling apart,not reckoning themselves among the nations.

10Who can count the dust of Jacobor number even a fourth of Israel?Let me die the death of the righteous;let my end be like theirs!”

11Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and behold, you have only blessed them!”

12But Balaam replied, “Should I not speak exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

Balaam’s Second Oracle

13Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the outskirts of their camp—not all of them. And from there, curse them for me.”

14So Balak took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

15Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I meet the LORD over there.”

16And the LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak what I tell you.”

17So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the princes of Moab. “What did the LORD say?” Balak asked.

18Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Arise, O Balak, and listen;give ear to me, O son of Zippor.

19God is not a man, that He should lie,or a son of man, that He should change His mind.Does He speak and not act?Does He promise and not fulfill?

20I have indeed received a command to bless;He has blessed, and I cannot change it.

21He considers no disaster for Jacob;He sees no trouble for Israel.The LORD their God is with them,and the shout of the King is among them.

22God brought them out of Egyptwith strength like a wild ox.

23For there is no spell against Jacoband no divination against Israel.It will now be said of Jacob and Israel,‘What great things God has done!’

24Behold, the people rise like a lioness;they rouse themselves like a lion,not resting until they devour their preyand drink the blood of the slain.”

25Now Balak said to Balaam, “Then neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”

26But Balaam replied, “Did I not tell you that whatever the LORD says, I must do?”

27“Please come,” said Balak, “I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there.”

28And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.

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

30So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

1And Balaam said to Balac: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.

2And when he had done according to the word of Balaam, they laid together a calf and a ram upon every altar.

3And Balaam said to Balac: Stand a while by thy burnt offering, until I go, to see if perhaps the Lord will meet me, and whatsoever he shall command, I will speak to thee.

4And when he was gone with speed, God met him. And Balaam speaking to him, said: I have erected seven altars, and have laid on everyone a calf and a ram.

5And the Lord put the word in his mouth, and said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou speak.

6Returning he found Balac standing by his burnt offering, with all the princes of the Moabites:

7And taking up his parable, he said: Balac king of the Moabites hath brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east: Come, said he, and curse Jacob: make haste and detest Israel.

8How shall I curse him, whom God hath not cursed? By what means should I detest him, whom the Lord detesteth not?

9I shall see him from the tops of the rocks, and shall consider him from the hills. This people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

10Who can count the dust of Jacob, and know the number of the stock of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the just, and my last end be like to them.

11And Balac said to Balaam: What is this that thou dost? I sent for thee to curse my enemies: and thou contrariwise blessest them.

12He answered him: Call I speak any thing else but what the Lord commandeth?

13Balac therefore said: Come with me to another place from whence thou mayest see part of Israel, and canst not see them all: curse them from thence.

14And when he had brought him to a high place, upon the top of mount Phasga, Balaam built seven altars, and laying on every one a calf and a ram,

15He said to Balac: Stand here by thy burnt offering while I go to meet him.

16And when the Lord had met him, and had put the word in his mouth, he said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou say to him.

17Returning he found him standing by his burnt sacrifice, and the princes of the Moabites with him. And Balac said to him: What hath the Lord spoken?

18But he taking up his parable, said: Stand, O Balac, and give ear: hear, thou son of Sephor:

19God is not a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said then, and will he not do? hath he spoken, and will he not fulfill?

20I was brought to bless, the blessing I am not able to hinder.

21There is no idol in Jacob, neither is there an image god to be seen in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the sound of the victory of the king in him.

22God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros.

23There is no soothsaying in Jacob, nor divination in Israel. In their times it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God hath wrought.

24Behold the people shall rise up as a lioness, and shall lift itself up as a lion: it shall not lie down till it devour the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

25And Balac said to Balaam: Neither curse, nor bless him.

26And he said: Did I not tell thee, that whatsoever God should command me, that I would do?

27And Balac said to him: Come and I will bring thee to another place; if peradventure it please God that thou mayest curse them from thence.

28And when he had brought him upon the top of mount Phogor, which looketh towards the wilderness,

29Balaam said to him: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.

30Balac did as Balaam had said: and he laid on every altar, a calf and a ram.