Numbers 23

Balaam’s Oracles

¹Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”²³So Balak did as Balaam directed, and they offered a bull and a ram on each altar.⁴⁵Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone. Maybe the Lord will meet with me. I will tell you whatever he reveals to me.” So he went to a barren hill.⁶

⁷God met with him and Balaam said to him, “I have arranged seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.”⁸⁹Then the Lord put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and say what I tell you.”¹⁰

¹¹So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with all the officials of Moab.¹²

Balaam’s First Oracle

¹³Balaam proclaimed his poem: Balak brought me from Aram; the king of Moab, from the eastern mountains: “Come, put a curse on Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel!”¹⁴

¹⁵How can I curse someone God has not cursed? How can I denounce someone the Lord has not denounced?¹⁶

¹⁷I see them from the top of rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. There is a people living alone; it does not consider itself among the nations.¹⁸

¹⁹Who has counted the dust of Jacob or numbered even one-fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright; let the end of my life be like theirs.²⁰

²¹“What have you done to me?” Balak asked Balaam. “I brought you to curse my enemies, but look, you have only blessed them!”²²

²³He answered, “Shouldn’t I say exactly what the Lord puts in my mouth?”²⁴

Balaam’s Second Oracle

²⁵Then 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; you won’t see all of them. From there, put a curse on them for me.”²⁶²⁷So Balak took him to Lookout Field on top of Pisgah, built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.²⁸

²⁹Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here by your burnt offering while I seek the Lord over there.”³⁰

³¹The Lord met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth. Then he said, “Return to Balak and say what I tell you.”³²

³³So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the officials of Moab. Balak asked him, “What did the Lord say?”³⁴

³⁵Balaam proclaimed his poem: Balak, get up and listen; son of Zippor, pay attention to what I say!³⁶

³⁷God is not a man, that he might lie, or a son of man, that he might change his mind. Does he speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?³⁸

³⁹I have indeed received a command to bless; since he has blessed, I cannot change it.⁴⁰

⁴¹He considers no disaster for Jacob; he sees no trouble for Israel. The Lord their God is with them, and there is rejoicing over the King among them.⁴²

⁴³God brought them out of Egypt; he is like the horns of a wild ox for them.⁴⁴

⁴⁵There is no magic curse against Jacob and no divination against Israel. It will now be said about Jacob and Israel, “What great things God has done!”⁴⁶

⁴⁷A people rise up like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion. They will not lie down until they devour the prey and drink the blood of the slain.⁴⁸

⁴⁹Then Balak told Balaam, “Don’t curse them and don’t bless them!”⁵⁰

⁵¹But Balaam answered him, “Didn’t I tell you: Whatever the Lord says, I must do?”⁵²

Balaam’s Third Oracle

⁵³Again Balak said to Balaam, “Please come. I will take you to another place. Maybe it will be agreeable to God that you can put a curse on them for me there.”⁵⁴⁵⁵So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.⁵⁶

⁵⁷Balaam told Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”⁵⁸⁵⁹So Balak did as Balaam said and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.⁶⁰