Numbers 23:1-20 ▼

1 And Balaam says to Balak, “Build seven altars for me in this [place], and prepare seven bullocks and seven rams for me in this [place].”

2 And Balak does as Balaam has spoken, and Balak—Balaam also—offers a bullock and a ram on the altar,

3 and Balaam says to Balak, “Station yourself by your burnt-offering and I go on, it may be YHWH comes to meet me, and the thing which He shows me I have declared to you”; and he goes [to] a high place.

4 And God comes to Balaam, and he says to Him, “I have arranged the seven altars, and I offer a bullock and a ram on the altar”;

5 and YHWH puts a word in the mouth of Balaam and says, “Return to Balak, and thus you speak.”

6 And he returns to him, and behold, he is standing by his burnt-offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

7 And he takes up his allegory and says: “Balak king of Moab leads me from Aram; From mountains of the east. Come—curse Jacob for me, || And come—be indignant [with] Israel.

8 How do I pierce [when] God has not pierced? And how am I indignant [when] YHWH has not been indignant?

9 For from the top of rocks I see him, || And from heights I behold him; Behold a people! He dwells alone, || And does not reckon himself among nations.

10 Who has counted the dust of Jacob, || And the number of the fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of upright ones, || And let my last end be like his!”

11 And Balak says to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I have taken you to pierce my enemies, and behold, you have certainly blessed”;

12 and he answers and says, “That which YHWH puts in my mouth—do I not take heed to speak it?”

13 And Balak says to him, “Come! Come to another place with me, from where you see it—you see only its extremity, and you do not see all of it, and pierce it for me there”;

14 and he takes him [to] the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and builds seven altars, and offers a bullock and a ram on the altar.

15 And he says to Balak, “Station yourself here by your burnt-offering, and I meet [Him] there”;

16 and YHWH comes to Balaam, and sets a word in his mouth, and says, “Return to Balak, and thus you speak.”

17 And he comes to him, and behold, he is standing by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab [are] with him, and Balak says to him: “What has YHWH spoken?”

18 And he takes up his allegory and says: “Rise, Balak, and hear; Give ear to me, son of Zippor!

19 God [is] not a man—and lies, || And a son of man—and relents! Has He said—and He does not do [it]? And spoken—and He does not confirm it?

20 Behold, I have received [only] to bless; Indeed, He blesses, and I cannot reverse it.