1And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars here, and prepare me seven oxen and seven rams.” 2And Balak did as Balaam said; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram. 3And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet with me; and whatever He tells me, I will tell you.” And he went to a high place. 4And God met Balaam: and he (Balaam) said to God, “I (Balaam) have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram.” 5And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and give him this message.” 6And he returned to Balak, as he stood by his burnt sacrifice, with all the leaders of Moab. 7And Balaam took up his parable, and said, “Balak, king of Moab, has brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, ‘Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel’. 8How shall I curse those whom God has not cursed? Or how shall I defy those whom the LORD has not defied? 9From the rocky peaks I see them, and from the hills I view them, a people who live apart, and separate from the other nations. 10Who can count the dust of Jacob, and number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like theirs!”

11And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, and you have done nothing but bless them!” 12And Balaam answered, “Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?” 13And Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place, from which you can see them; you shall see only the outermost part of them, and not see them all; and curse them from there for me.” 14And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on each altar. 15And he said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet the LORD yonder.” 16And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.” 17And when he returned, Balak stood by his burnt offering, with the leaders of Moab. And Balak asked him, “What has the LORD spoken?” 18And he took up his parable, and said, “Rise up, Balak, and hear; listen to me, you son of Zippor. 19God is not a man, that He should lie; not a human, that He should change His mind. Has He ever said, and not acted? Or has He promised, and not made it good? 20I have received a command to bless: and He has blessed; and I cannot reverse it. 21He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD, his God, is with them, and He has been proclaimed their King. 22God brought them out of Egypt; He has the strength of a unicorn. 23Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, nor is there any divination against Israel: for now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘See what God has done! 24The people shall arise like a great lion, and rouse like a young lion that shall not lie down until he devours his prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.’”

25And Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.” 26But Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the LORD speaks, that I must do?’” 27And Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God for you to curse them for me from there.” 28And Balak brought Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks the wasteland. 29And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bullocks and seven rams.” 30And Balak did as Balaam said, and he offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.