Numbers 23

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

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

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

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

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 a bare height.

And 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.

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

And 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.

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

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

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

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

7 And he took up his parable, and said, From Aram hath Balak brought me, The king of Moab from the mountains of the East: Come, curse me Jacob, And come, defy Israel.

And 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.

8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? And how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?

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

9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, And from the hills I behold him: Lo, it is a people that dwell alone, And shall not be reckoned among the nations.

I 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.

10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, And let my last end be like his!

Who 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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

Balac 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.

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

And 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,

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

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

16 And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus shalt thou speak.

And 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.

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

Returning 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?

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

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

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?

God 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?

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

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

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.

There 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.

22 God bringeth them forth out of Egypt; He hath as it were the strength of the wild-ox.

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

23 Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob, Neither is there any divination with Israel: Now shall it be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!

There 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.

24 Behold, the people riseth up as a lioness, And as a lion doth he lift himself up: He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, And drink the blood of the slain.

Behold 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.

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

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

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

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

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

And 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.

28 And Balak took Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh down upon the desert.

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

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

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

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

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