⁹ 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)

“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)
8 How can I curse
    those whom God has not cursed?^(F)
How can I denounce
    those whom the Lord has not denounced?^(G)

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.

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.