²⁶ Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the Lord says?”^(A)

²⁹ Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!^(A)

¹⁸ But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God.^(A)

¹⁹ But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him?^(A) You be the judges! ²⁰ As for us, we cannot help speaking^(B) about what we have seen and heard.”^(C)

¹³ But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what my God says.”^(A)

³⁸ “Well, I have come to you now,” Balaam replied. “But I can’t say whatever I please. I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.”^(A)

¹⁴ But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what the Lord tells me.”^(A)

¹² Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell the messengers you sent me,^{(A) 13} ‘Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord^(B)—and I must say only what the Lord says’?^(C)

¹² He answered, “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”^(A)

Balaam’s Second Message

¹³ Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place^(B) where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp.^(C) And from there, curse them for me.^(D)”