Numbers 23
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
23 And Balaam said to Balac: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.
2 And when he had done according to the word of Balaam, they laid together a calf and a ram upon every altar.
3 And Balaam said to Balac: Stand a while by thy burnt offering, until I go, to see if perhaps the Lord will meet me, and whatsoever he shall command, I will speak to thee.
4 And when he was gone with speed, God met him. And Balaam speaking to him, said: I have erected seven altars, and have laid on everyone a calf and a ram.
5 And the Lord put the word in his mouth, and said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou speak.
6 Returning he found Balac standing by his burnt offering, with all the princes of the Moabites:
7 And taking up his parable, he said: Balac king of the Moabites hath brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east: Come, said he, and curse Jacob: make haste and detest Israel.
8 How shall I curse him, whom God hath not cursed? By what means should I detest him, whom the Lord detesteth not?
9 I shall see him from the tops of the rocks, and shall consider him from the hills. This people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, and know the number of the stock of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the just, and my last end be like to them.
11 And Balac said to Balaam: What is this that thou dost? I sent for thee to curse my enemies: and thou contrariwise blessest them.
12 He answered him: Call I speak any thing else but what the Lord commandeth?
13 Balac therefore said: Come with me to another place from whence thou mayest see part of Israel, and canst not see them all: curse them from thence.
14 And when he had brought him to a high place, upon the top of mount Phasga, Balaam built seven altars, and laying on every one a calf and a ram,
15 He said to Balac: Stand here by thy burnt offering while I go to meet him.
16 And when the Lord had met him, and had put the word in his mouth, he said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou say to him.
17 Returning he found him standing by his burnt sacrifice, and the princes of the Moabites with him. And Balac said to him: What hath the Lord spoken?
18 But he taking up his parable, said: Stand, O Balac, and give ear: hear, thou son of Sephor:
19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said then, and will he not do? hath he spoken, and will he not fulfill?
20 I was brought to bless, the blessing I am not able to hinder.
21 There is no idol in Jacob, neither is there an image god to be seen in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the sound of the victory of the king in him.
22 God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros.
23 There is no soothsaying in Jacob, nor divination in Israel. In their times it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God hath wrought.
24 Behold the people shall rise up as a lioness, and shall lift itself up as a lion: it shall not lie down till it devour the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.
25 And Balac said to Balaam: Neither curse, nor bless him.
26 And he said: Did I not tell thee, that whatsoever God should command me, that I would do?
27 And Balac said to him: Come and I will bring thee to another place; if peradventure it please God that thou mayest curse them from thence.
28 And when he had brought him upon the top of mount Phogor, which looketh towards the wilderness,
29 Balaam said to him: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.
30 Balac did as Balaam had said: and he laid on every altar, a calf and a ram.
Numbers 23
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
23 1 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and provide for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram. 3 And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me; and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height. 4 And God met Balaam; and Balaam said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered upon each altar a bull and a ram.” 5 And the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 6 And he returned to him, and lo, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering. 7 And Balaam took up his discourse, and said,
“From Aram Balak has brought me,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
and come, denounce Israel!’
8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
9 For from the top of the mountains I see him,
from the hills I behold him;
lo, a people dwelling alone,
and not reckoning itself among the nations!
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob,
or number the fourth part[a] of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous,
and let my end be like his!”
11 And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” 12 And he answered, “Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”
Balaam’s Second Oracle
13 And Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place, from which you may see them; you shall see only the nearest of them, and shall not see them all; then curse them for me from there.” 14 And he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 15 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord yonder.” 16 And the Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.” 17 And he came to him, and lo, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?” 18 And Balaam took up his discourse, and said,
“Rise, Balak, and hear;
hearken to me, O son of Zippor:
19 God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should repent.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfil it?
20 Behold, I received a command to bless:
he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
21 He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob;
nor has he seen trouble in Israel.
The Lord their God is with them,
and the shout of a king is among them.
22 God brings them out of Egypt;
they have as it were the horns of the wild ox.
23 For there is no enchantment against Jacob,
no divination against Israel;
now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,
‘What has God wrought!’
24 Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises up
and as a lion it lifts itself;
it does not lie down till it devours the prey,
and drinks the blood of the slain.”
25 And Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.” 26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord says, that I must do’?” 27 And Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Pe′or, that overlooks the desert.[b] 29 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and provide for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
Footnotes
- Numbers 23:10 Or dust clouds
- Numbers 23:28 Or Jeshimon
Public Domain (Why are modern Bible translations copyrighted?)
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.