(A)Therefore please come at once, (B)curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

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Now come and put a curse(A) on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land.(B) For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.”

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‘He(A) bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?’

(B)“Blessed is he who blesses you,
And cursed is he who curses you.”

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Like a lion they crouch and lie down,
    like a lioness(A)—who dares to rouse them?

“May those who bless you be blessed(B)
    and those who curse you be cursed!”(C)

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And he (A)took up his [a]oracle and said:

“Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram,
From the mountains of the east.
(B)‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
And come, (C)denounce Israel!’

“How(D) shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 23:7 prophetic discourse

Then Balaam(A) spoke his message:(B)

“Balak brought me from Aram,(C)
    the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.(D)
‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me;
    come, denounce Israel.’(E)
How can I curse
    those whom God has not cursed?(F)
How can I denounce
    those whom the Lord has not denounced?(G)

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Paul and Silas Imprisoned

16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl (A)possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters (B)much profit by fortune-telling.

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Paul and Silas in Prison

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer,(A) we were met by a female slave who had a spirit(B) by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.

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The Sorcerer’s Profession of Faith

But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously (A)practiced [a]sorcery in the city and (B)astonished the [b]people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, 10 to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.”

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 8:9 magic
  2. Acts 8:9 Or nation

Simon the Sorcerer

Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery(A) in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,(B) 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.”(C)

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(A)They have envisioned futility and false divination, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord!’ But the Lord has (B)not sent them; yet they hope that the word may [a]be confirmed.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 13:6 Come true

Their visions are false(A) and their divinations a lie. Even though the Lord has not sent(B) them, they say, “The Lord declares,” and expect him to fulfill their words.(C)

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12 “Stand now with your enchantments
And the multitude of your sorceries,
In which you have labored from your youth—
Perhaps you will be able to profit,
Perhaps you will prevail.
13 (A)You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels;
Let now (B)the[a] astrologers, the stargazers,
And [b]the monthly prognosticators
Stand up and save you
From what shall come upon you.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 47:13 Lit. viewers of the heavens
  2. Isaiah 47:13 Lit. those giving knowledge for new moons

12 “Keep on, then, with your magic spells
    and with your many sorceries,(A)
    which you have labored at since childhood.
Perhaps you will succeed,
    perhaps you will cause terror.
13 All the counsel you have received has only worn you out!(B)
    Let your astrologers(C) come forward,
those stargazers who make predictions month by month,
    let them save(D) you from what is coming upon you.

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17 (A)As he loved cursing, so let it come to him;
As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
So let it (B)enter his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.

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17 He loved to pronounce a curse—
    may it come back on him.(A)
He found no pleasure in blessing—
    may it be far from him.
18 He wore cursing(B) as his garment;
    it entered into his body like water,(C)
    into his bones like oil.

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because they had not met the children of Israel with bread and water, but (A)hired Balaam against them to curse them. (B)However, our God turned the curse into a blessing.

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because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam(A) to call a curse down on them.(B) (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.)(C)

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13 Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “Now listen, the words of the prophets with one accord encourage the king. Please, let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak encouragement.”

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13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the other prophets without exception are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.”(A)

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So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord; but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.”

And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say such things!”

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The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate(A) him because he never prophesies anything good(B) about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”

“The king should not say such a thing,” Jehoshaphat replied.

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Then the king of Israel (A)gathered [a]the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to fight, or shall I refrain?”

So they said, “Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 22:6 The false prophets

So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—about four hundred men—and asked them, “Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?”

“Go,”(A) they answered, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”(B)

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43 So the Philistine (A)said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

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43 He said to David, “Am I a dog,(A) that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

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