{23:1} And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven
altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.
{23:2} And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak
and Balaam offered on [every] altar a bullock and a ram.
{23:3} 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 an high place. {23:4} And God met
Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars,
and I have offered upon [every] altar a bullock and a ram.
{23:5} And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and
said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. {23:6}
And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt
sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab. {23:7} And he
took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath
brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east,
[saying,] Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.
{23:8} How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or
how shall I defy, [whom] the LORD hath not defied?
{23:9} For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the
hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall
not be reckoned among the nations. {23:10} Who can count
the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth [part] of
Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last
end be like his! {23:11} 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. {23:12}
And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak
that which the LORD hath put in my mouth? {23:13} 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.
{23:14} And 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 [every] altar. {23:15} And he said
unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet
[the LORD] yonder. {23:16} And the LORD met Balaam,
and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak,
and say thus. {23:17} And when he came to him, behold, he
stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with
him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the LORD
spoken? {23:18} And he took up his parable, and said, Rise
up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:
{23:19} 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? {23:20} Behold, I have received [commandment] to
bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. {23:21}
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. {23:22} God brought
them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an
unicorn. {23:23} Surely [there is] no enchantment against
Jacob, neither [is there] any divination against Israel:
according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel,
What hath God wrought! {23:24} Behold, the people shall
rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he
shall not lie down until he eat [of] the prey, and drink the
blood of the slain.
{23:25} And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them
at all, nor bless them at all. {23:26} But Balaam answered
and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the
LORD speaketh, that I must do?
{23:27} And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee,
I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will
please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.
{23:28} And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor,
that looketh toward Jeshimon. {23:29} And Balaam said
unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here
seven bullocks and seven rams. {23:30} And Balak did as
Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on [every]
altar.
