Numbers 23

1 Then Balaam said to Balak, *Num. 23:29"Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams."

2 And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam *Num. 23:14, 30offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 Then Balaam said to Balak, *Num. 23:15"Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come *Num. 23:4, 16to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you." So he went to a desolate height. 4 *Num. 23:16And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, "I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram."

5 Then the Lord*Num. 22:20, 35, 38; 23:16; Deut. 18:18; Jer. 1:9put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak." 6 So he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

7 And he *Deut. 23:4; Job 27:1; 29:1; Ps. 78:2took up his oracle and said:

"Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram,

From the mountains of the east.

*Num. 22:6, 11, 17‘Come, curse Jacob for me,

And come, *1 Sam. 17:10denounce Israel!’

8 "How*Num. 22:12 shall I curse whom God has not cursed?

And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?

9 For from the top of the rocks I see him,

And from the hills I behold him;

There! *Deut. 32:8; 33:28; Josh. 11:23A people dwelling alone,

*Ex. 33:16; Ezra 9:2; (Eph. 2:14)Not reckoning itself among the nations.

10 "Who*Gen. 13:16; 22:17; 28:14; 2 Chr. 1:9 can count the dust of Jacob,

Or number one-fourth of Israel?

Let me die *Ps. 116:15the death of the righteous,

And let my end be like his!"

11 Then Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? *Num. 22:11I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!"

12 So he answered and said, *Num. 22:38"Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?"

Balaam’s Second Prophecy

13 Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only the outer part of them, and shall not see them all; curse them for me from there." 14 So he brought him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, *Num. 23:1, 2and built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

15 And he said to Balak, "Stand here by your burnt offering while I meet theLord over there."

16 Then the Lord met Balaam, and *Num. 22:35; 23:5put a word in his mouth, and said, "Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak." 17 So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, "What has the Lord spoken?"

18 Then he took up his oracle and said:

*Judg. 3:20"Rise up, Balak, and hear!

Listen to me, son of Zippor!

19 "God*1 Sam. 15:29; Mal. 3:6; James 1:17is not a man, that He should lie,

Nor a son of man, that He should repent.

Has He *Num. 11:23; 1 Kin. 8:56said, and will He not do?

Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

20 Behold, I have received acommand to bless;

*Gen. 12:2; 22:17; Num. 22:12He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

21 "He*Ps. 32:2; (Rom. 4:7, 8) has not observed iniquity in Jacob,

Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel.

The Lord his God is with him,

*Ps. 89:15–18And the shout of a King is among them.

22 *Num. 24:8God brings them out of Egypt;

He has *Deut. 33:17; Job 39:10strength like a wild ox.

23 "For thereis no sorcery against Jacob,

Nor any divination against Israel.

It now must be said of Jacob

And of Israel, ‘Oh, *Ps. 31:19; 44:1what God has done!’

24 Look, a people rises *Gen. 49:9like a lioness,

And lifts itself up like a lion;

*Gen. 49:27; Josh. 11:23It shall not lie down until it devours the prey,

And drinks the blood of the slain."

25 Then Balak said to Balaam, "Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!"

26 So Balaam answered and said to Balak, "Did I not tell you, saying, *Num. 22:38‘All that the Lord speaks, that I must do’?"

Balaam’s Third Prophecy

27 Then Balak said to Balaam, "Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there." 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that *Num. 21:20overlooks the wasteland. 29 Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams." 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.