Numeri 23
BasisBijbel
Bileam zegent Israël voor de eerste keer
23 Bileam zei tegen Balak: "Bouw hier zeven altaren voor mij. Offer daarop zeven stieren en zeven mannetjes-schapen." 2 Balak deed wat Bileam had gevraagd en offerde met Bileam op elk altaar een stier en een mannetjes-schaap. 3 Toen zei Bileam tegen Balak: "Blijf hier bij het brand-offer staan. Ik ga weg, en misschien zal de Heer naar mij toe komen. Daarna zal ik u vertellen wat Hij tegen mij heeft gezegd." Toen klom hij de heuvel op. 4 God kwam daar naar Bileam toe. Bileam zei tegen Hem: "Ik heb zeven altaren gebouwd en op elk altaar een stier en een mannetjes-schaap geofferd." 5 De Heer zei Bileam wat hij zeggen moest en stuurde hem daarmee terug naar Balak. 6 Toen Bileam terugkwam, stond Balak nog steeds bij zijn offer, met de leiders van Moab. 7 Bileam zei:
"Balak, de koning van Moab, haalde mij uit Aram, uit de bergen in het oosten.
Hij zei: 'Kom en vervloek het volk van Jakob voor mij. Verwens het volk Israël.'
8 Maar hoe kan ik een volk vervloeken dat niet door God vervloekt is?
Hoe kan ik een volk verwensen dat niet door de Heer verwenst is?
9 Vanaf de top van deze rotsen zie ik hen.
Ik zie hen vanaf de heuvels.
Het is een bijzonder volk, anders dan de andere volken.
10 Wie kan de familie van Jakob tellen?
Ze zijn zo ontelbaar als stof!
Wie kan tellen hoe groot ook maar een kwart van het volk Israël is?
Ik wilde wel dat ik zou sterven als één van hen,
als één van hen die bij God horen!"
11 Toen zei Balak tegen Bileam: "Wat doe je me nu? Ik heb je laten komen om mijn vijanden te vervloeken, en nu heb je hen gezegend!" 12 Maar hij antwoordde hem: "Ik mag alleen dát zeggen wat de Heer mij beveelt."
Bileam zegent Israël voor de tweede keer
13 Toen zei Balak tegen hem: "Ga alsjeblieft met mij mee naar een andere plek vanwaar je het volk kan zien. Daar zul je een ander deel van het volk zien. Maar ook daar kun je niet het hele volk zien. Vervloek hen dan voor mij vanaf die andere plaats." 14 Hij nam hem mee naar de Zofim-vlakte, op de helling van de Pisga. Hij bouwde er zeven altaren en offerde op elk altaar een stier en een mannetjes-schaap. 15 Bileam zei tegen Balak: "Blijf hier bij het offer staan. Ik zal verderop God ontmoeten." 16 De Heer kwam naar Bileam toe en zei hem wat hij zeggen moest. Daarmee stuurde Hij hem naar Balak terug. 17 Toen Bileam terugkwam, stond Balak daar nog steeds bij zijn offer, met de leiders van Moab. Balak vroeg hem: "Wat heeft de Heer gezegd?" 18 Bileam zei:
"Sta op Balak, en luister.
Zet je oren open voor wat ik zeg, zoon van Zippor.
19 God is niet zoals de mensen. Mensen liegen, maar God liegt nooit.
Mensen veranderen van gedachten, maar God doet altijd wat Hij zegt.
Hij houdt Zich altijd aan wat Hij heeft beloofd.
20 Hij heeft mij het bevel gegeven om te zegenen.
Hij heeft hen gezegend. Daar kan ik niets aan veranderen.
21 God ziet geen kwaad bij het volk Israël.
Hij vergeeft hun wat ze verkeerd doen.
Hun Heer God is met hen. Ze jubelen over hun Koning.
22 God heeft hen uit Egypte bevrijd.
Hij verdedigt hen als een buffel met sterke horens.
23 Het volk van Jakob kan niet vervloekt worden.
Toverspreuken kunnen het volk Israël niets doen.
Dit is wat God voor hen doet:
24 Hij heeft het volk zo sterk gemaakt als een machtige leeuw,
als een leeuw die niet gaat liggen vóórdat hij zijn prooi heeft verscheurd
en het bloed heeft gedronken van wie hij heeft gedood."
25 Toen zei Balak tegen Bileam: "Als je het volk dan beslist niet wil vervloeken, zegen het dan in ieder geval óók niet!" 26 Maar Bileam antwoordde hem: "Ik heb u toch gezegd dat ik alles zal zeggen wat de Heer wil dat ik zeg?"
27 Toen zei Balak: "Kom met me mee naar een andere plaats. Misschien zal God het goed vinden dat je het volk vanaf die plek vervloekt." 28 Toen nam Balak Bileam mee naar de top van de Peor, vanwaar je uitkijkt over de woestijn. 29 Bileam zei tegen Balak: "Bouw hier zeven altaren en offer hier zeven stieren en zeven mannetjes-schapen." 30 Balak deed wat Bileam had gevraagd en offerde op elk altaar een stier en een mannetjes-schaap.
Numbers 23
Common English Bible
23 Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 Balak did as Balaam had said. Then Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stay by your entirely burned offering. I will go and perhaps the Lord will grant me an appearance and speak. Whatever he shows me, I will tell you.” Then he went off to a high outlook.
4 God granted Balaam an appearance. Balaam said to him, “I have arranged seven altars and I have sacrificed a bull and a ram on each altar.”
5 The Lord gave Balaam something to say, and said to him, “Return to Balak and say this.”
6 Balaam returned to him, while he and all the officials of Moab were standing next to his entirely burned offering. 7 Then he raised his voice and made his address:
“From Aram Balak led me,
the king of Moab, from the eastern mountains.
Come, curse Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.
8 How can I curse
whom God hasn’t cursed?
How can I denounce
whom God hasn’t denounced?
9 From the top of the rocks I see him;
from the hills I gaze on him.
Here is a people living alone;
it doesn’t consider itself among the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob,
or number a fourth of Israel?
Let me die the death of those who do right,
and let my end be like his.”
11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemy. But now you’ve blessed him.”
12 He answered and said, “Don’t I have to take care to speak whatever the Lord gives me to say?”
Balaam’s second blessing of the Israelites
13 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come with me, please, to another place where you’ll see them. You’ll see only part of them. You won’t see all of them. Then curse them for me from there.” 14 He took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah. He built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
15 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here by your entirely burned offering, while I seek an appearance over there.”
16 The Lord granted Balaam an appearance and gave him a message. He said, “Return to Balak and say this.”
17 Balaam approached Balak, who was standing by his entirely burned offering with the officials of Moab. Balak said to him, “What did the Lord say?”
18 Then Balaam raised his voice and made his address:
“Arise, Balak, and listen;
hear me out, Zippor’s son.
19 God isn’t a man that he would lie,
or a human being that he would change his mind.
Has he ever spoken and not done it,
or promised and not fulfilled it?
20 I received a blessing, and he blessed.
I can’t take it back.
21 He hasn’t envisioned misfortune for Jacob,
nor has he seen trouble for Israel.
The Lord his God is with him,
proclaimed as his king.
22 God, who brought them out of Egypt,
is like a magnificent wild bull for him.
23 There is no omen against Jacob,
no divination against Israel.
Instantly it is told to Jacob,
and to Israel, what God performs.
24 A people now rises like a lioness,
like a lion it stands up.
It doesn’t lie down until it eats the prey
and drinks the blood of the slain.”
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Don’t curse them or bless them.”
26 But Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘I’ll do whatever the Lord tells me to’?”
Balaam’s third blessing of the Israelites
27 Balak said to Balaam, “Please come and I’ll take you to another place. Perhaps God will prefer it, so that you could curse him for me from there.”
28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks Jeshimon.[a] 29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.” 30 Balak did just as Balaam said. He offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
Footnotes
- Numbers 23:28 Or wasteland
Numbers 23
1599 Geneva Bible
23 1 Balaam causeth seven altars to be built. 5 God teacheth him what to answer. 8 Instead of cursing he blesseth Israel. 19 God is not like man.
1 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks, and seven rams.
2 And Balak did as Balaam said, and [a]Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.
3 Then Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go, if so be that the Lord will come and meet me: and whatsoever he showeth me, I will tell thee: so he [b]went forth alone.
4 And God [c]met Balaam, and Balaam said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram.
5 And the Lord [d]put an answer in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Go again to Balak, and say on this wise.
6 So when he turned unto him, lo, he stood by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.
7 Then he uttered his [e]parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from [f]Aram out of the mountains of the East, saying, Come, curse Jacob for my sake: come, and [g]detest Israel.
8 How shall I curse, where God hath not cursed? or how shall I detest, where the Lord hath not detested?
9 For from the top of the rocks I did see him, and from the hills I did behold him: lo, the people shall dwell by themselves, and shall not be reckoned among the [h]nations.
10 Who can tell the [i]dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me [j]die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.
11 Then Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.
12 And he answered, and said, Must I not take heed to speak that, which the Lord hath put in my mouth?
13 And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, whence thou mayest see them, and thou shalt see but the utmost part of them and shalt not see them all: therefore curse them out of that place for my sake.
14 ¶ And he brought him into [k]Zophim to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.
15 After, he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, and I will meet the Lord yonder.
16 And the Lord met Balaam, and (A)put an answer in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus.
17 And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him: so Balak said unto him, What hath the Lord said?
18 And he uttered his parable, and said, Rise up Balak, and hear: hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor.
19 [l]God is not as man, that he should lie, neither as the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? and hath he spoken, and shall he not accomplish it?
20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: for he hath blessed, and I cannot alter it.
21 He seeth none iniquity in Jacob, nor seeth no transgression in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the [m]joyful shout of a King is among them.
22 God brought them out of Egypt: their strength is as an unicorn.
23 For there is no sorcery in Jacob, nor soothsaying in Israel, [n]according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought?
24 Behold, the people shall rise up as a lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down, till he eat of the prey, and till he drink the blood of the slain.
25 Then Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse, nor bless them at all.
26 But Balaam answered, and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speaketh, that must I do?
27 ¶ Again Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another [o]place, if so be it will please God, that thou mayest thence curse them for my sake.
28 So Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon.
29 Then Balaam said unto Balak, Make me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks, and seven rams.
30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.
Footnotes
- Numbers 23:2 For among the Gentiles the kings oft times used to sacrifice, as did the Priests.
- Numbers 23:3 Or, went up higher.
- Numbers 23:4 Appeared unto him.
- Numbers 23:5 Taught him what to say.
- Numbers 23:7 Or, prophecy.
- Numbers 23:7 Or, Syria.
- Numbers 23:7 Cause that all may hate and detest them.
- Numbers 23:9 But shall have religion and laws apart.
- Numbers 23:10 The infinite multitude, as the dust of the earth.
- Numbers 23:10 The fear of God’s judgment caused him to wish to be joined to the household of Abraham: thus the wicked have their consciences wounded when they consider God’s judgments.
- Numbers 23:14 Or, into the field of them that spied: to wit, lest the enemy should approach.
- Numbers 23:19 God’s enemies are compelled to confess that his government is just, constant, and without change or repentance.
- Numbers 23:21 They triumph as victorious kings over their enemies.
- Numbers 23:23 Considering what God shall work this time for the deliverance of his people, all the world shall wonder.
- Numbers 23:27 Thus the wicked imagine of God, that that which he will not grant in one place, he will do it in another.
© stichting BasisBijbel 2013 Gecorrigeerde tekst © 2015 Alle rechten voorbehouden Uitgegeven bij de ZakBijbelBond: 2016
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
