Numbers 23:13-30

New King James Version

Balaam’s Second Prophecy

¹³Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only the outer part of them, and shall not see them all; curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴So he brought him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, ^(A)and built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵And he said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering while I ^[a]meet the Lord over there.”

¹⁶Then the Lord met Balaam, and ^(B)put a word in his mouth, and said, “Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ¹⁷So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”

¹⁸Then he took up his oracle and said:

^(C)“Rise up, Balak, and hear!
Listen to me, son of Zippor!

¹⁹“God^(D) is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He ^(E)said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
²⁰Behold, I have received a command to bless;
^(F)He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

²¹“He^(G) has not observed iniquity in Jacob,
Nor has He seen ^[b]wickedness in Israel.
The Lord his God is with him,
^(H)And the shout of a King is among them.
²²^(I)God brings them out of Egypt;
He has ^(J)strength like a wild ox.

²³“For there is no ^[c]sorcery against Jacob,
Nor any ^[d]divination against Israel.
It now must be said of Jacob
And of Israel, ‘Oh, ^(K)what God has done!’
²⁴Look, a people rises ^(L)like a lioness,
And lifts itself up like a lion;
^(M)It shall not lie down until it devours the prey,
And drinks the blood of the slain.”

²⁵Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!”

²⁶So Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ^(N)‘All that the Lord speaks, that I must do’?”

Balaam’s Third Prophecy

²⁷Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” ²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that ^(O)overlooks the ^[e]wasteland. ²⁹Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ³⁰And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.