Balaam’s First Oracle

1And Balaam said vnto Balac: Buylde me here seuen aulters, & prepare me here seuen oxen & seuen rammes. 2And Balac dyd as Balaam sayde: And Balac and Balaam offred on euery aulter an oxe and a ramme. 3And Balaam said vnto Balac: Stand by thy sacrifice, and I will go, if happly the Lorde will meete me: and whatsoeuer he sheweth me, I wyll tell thee. And he went vp hyer.

4But God met Balaam, & Balaam sayd vnto hym: I haue prepared seuen aulters, and haue offred vpon euery aulter an oxe and a ramme. 5And the Lorde put a saying in Balaams mouth, and sayde: Go agayne to Balac, and say on this wyse. 6And when he went agayne vnto him, lo, he stoode by his burnt sacrifice, he and all the lordes of Moab.

7And he toke vp his parable, and sayd: Balac the king of Moab hath brought me fro Mesopotamia, out of the mountaynes of the east, saying Come, curse Iacob for my sake, come and defie Israel.

8Howe shall I curse hym, whom God hath not cursed? or howe shall I defie hym, whom God hath not defied?

9For from the toppe of the rockes I see hym, and from the hylles I beholde hym: lo, the people shall dwell by them selues, and shal not be reckened among the nations.

10Who can tell the dust of Iacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? I pray God that my soule may dye the death of the righteous, and that my last ende may be like his.

11And Balac sayd vnto Balaam: What hast thou done vnto me? I toke thee to curse myne enemies, and beholde thou hast blessed them altogether. 12He aunswered and sayd: Must I not take heede to speake that whiche the lorde hath put in my mouth?

Balaam’s Second Oracle

13And Balac sayde vnto hym: Come I pray thee with me vnto another place, whence thou mayest see them, and thou shalt see but the vtmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: curse them out of that place for my sake. 14And he brought hym into a fielde, where men myght see farre of, euen to the toppe of an hyll, and buylt seuen aulters, and offred an oxe and a ramme on euery aulter. 15And he said vnto Balac: Stande here by thy burnt sacrifice, whyle I meete the Lorde yonder. 16And the Lord met Balaam, and put a worde in his mouth, and sayd: Go agayne vnto Balac, and say thus. 17And when he came to hym, beholde he stoode by his burnt sacrifice, and the lordes of Moab with hym. And Balac saide vnto hym: What hath the Lorde sayde?

18And he toke vp his parable, and aunswered: Rise vp Balac, and heare, and hearke vnto me thou sonne of Ziphor.

19God is not a man that he should lye, neither the sonne of a ma that he should repent: should he say & not do? or should he speake, and not make it good?

20Beholde, I haue taken vpon me to blesse: for he hath blessed, and it is not in my power to aulter it.

21He behelde no vanitie in Iacob, nor saw transgression in Israel: The Lord his God is with hym, and the ioyfull shout of a king is among them.

22God brought them out of Egypt, they haue strength as an Unicorne.

23For there is no sorcerie in Iacob, nor soothsaying in Israel, according to this time it shalbe sayde of Iacob and Israel: What hath God wrought?

24Beholde, the people shall ryse vp as a Lion, and heaue vp him self as a young Lion: He shall not lye downe, vntyll he eate of the pray, and drinke the blood of them that are slayne.

25And Balac sayde vnto Balaam: Neither curse them, nor blesse them at all. 26But Balaam aunswered and said vnto Balac: Tolde not I thee, saying, All that ye Lorde speaketh, that I must do?

27And Balac said vnto Balaam: Come I pray thee, and I wyll bryng thee yet vnto another place, if at all it will please God, that thou mayst thence curse them for my sake. 28And Balac brought Balaam vnto the toppe of Peor, that looketh towarde Iesimon. 29And Balaam said vnto Balac: Make me here seuen aulters, and prepare me here seuen oxen, and seuen rammes. 30And Balac dyd as Balaam had sayd, and offered an oxe and a ramme on euerie aulter.