Balaam's Third Oracle

24 When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go, as at ^(A)other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness.

³ And Balaam said to Balak, ^(A)“Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come ^(B)to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height,

¹⁴ But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of ^(A)Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might ^(B)eat food sacrificed to idols and ^(C)practice sexual immorality.

¹⁶ Behold, ^(A)these, ^(B)on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of ^(C)Peor, and so ^(D)the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.

²⁸ So Balak took Balaam to the top of ^(A)Peor, which overlooks ^(B)the desert.^[a]

¹⁵ Balaam said to Balak, ^(A)“Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord over there.”

¹³ So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your own land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.”

²⁵ Then Saul said to David, “Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will ^(A)succeed in them.” So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.