Numbers 23:13-30

English Standard Version

Balaam's Second Oracle

¹³And Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴And he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, ^(A)and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ¹⁵Balaam said to Balak, ^(B)“Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord over there.” ¹⁶And the Lord met Balaam and ^(C)put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.” ¹⁷And he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?” ¹⁸And Balaam took up his discourse and said,

“Rise, Balak, and hear;
    give ear to me, O son of Zippor:
¹⁹^(D)God is not man, that he should lie,
    or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
    Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
²⁰Behold, I received a command to bless:
    ^(E)he has blessed, and ^(F)I cannot revoke it.
²¹^(G)He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob,
    nor has he seen trouble in Israel.
The Lord their God is with them,
    and the shout of a king is among them.
²²^(H)God brings them out of Egypt
    and is for them like ^(I)the horns of the wild ox.
²³For there is no enchantment against Jacob,
    no ^(J)divination against Israel;
now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,
    ^(K)‘What has God wrought!’
²⁴Behold, a people! ^(L)As a lioness it rises up
    and as a lion it lifts itself;
^(M)it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey
    and drunk the blood of the slain.”

²⁵And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.” ²⁶But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ^(N)‘All that the Lord says, that I must do’?” ²⁷And Balak said to Balaam, ^(O)“Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” ²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of ^(P)Peor, which overlooks ^(Q)the desert.^[a] ²⁹And Balaam said to Balak, ^(R)“Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ³⁰^(S)And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.