Numbers 23:26-24:8

English Standard Version

²⁶But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ^(A)‘All that the Lord says, that I must do’?” ²⁷And Balak said to Balaam, ^(B)“Come now, 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 ^(C)Peor, which overlooks ^(D)the desert.^[a] ²⁹And Balaam said to Balak, ^(E)“Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ³⁰^(F)And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Balaam's Third Oracle

24 When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go, as at ^(G)other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness. ²And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel ^(H)camping tribe by tribe. And ^(I)the Spirit of God came upon him, ³and he ^(J)took up his discourse and said,

“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
    the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,^[b]
⁴the oracle of him who hears the words of God,
    who sees the vision of the Almighty,
    ^(K)falling down with his eyes uncovered:
⁵How lovely are your tents, O Jacob,
    your encampments, O Israel!
⁶Like palm groves^[c] that stretch afar,
    like gardens beside a river,
^(L)like aloes ^(M)that the Lord has planted,
    like cedar trees beside the waters.
⁷Water shall flow from his buckets,
    and his seed shall be ^(N)in many waters;
his king shall be higher than ^(O)Agag,
    and ^(P)his kingdom shall be exalted.
⁸God brings him out of Egypt
    and is for him like the ^(Q)horns of the wild ox;
he shall ^(R)eat up the nations, his adversaries,
    and shall ^(S)break their bones in pieces
    and ^(T)pierce them through with his arrows.