Numbers 23:9-11
The Message
6-10 He went back and found him stationed beside his Whole-Burnt-Offering and with him all the nobles of Moab. Then Balaam spoke his message-oracle:
Balak led me here from Aram,
the king of Moab all the way from the eastern mountains.
“Go, curse Jacob for me;
go, damn Israel.”
How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I damn whom God has not damned?
From rock pinnacles I see them,
from hilltops I survey them:
Look! a people camping off by themselves,
thinking themselves outsiders among nations.
But who could ever count the dust of Jacob
or take a census of cloud-of-dust Israel?
I want to die like these right-living people!
I want an end just like theirs!
11 Balak said to Balaam, “What’s this? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and all you’ve done is bless them.”
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Numbers 23:9-11
New King James Version
9 For from the top of the rocks I see him,
And from the hills I behold him;
There! (A)A people dwelling alone,
(B)Not reckoning itself among the nations.
10 “Who(C) can count the [a]dust of Jacob,
Or number one-fourth of Israel?
Let me die (D)the death of the righteous,
And let my end be like his!”
11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? (E)I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Numbers 23:10 Or dust cloud
Numbers 23:9-11
English Standard Version
9 For from the top of the crags (A)I see him,
from the hills I behold him;
behold, (B)a people dwelling alone,
and (C)not counting itself among the nations!
10 (D)Who can count the dust of Jacob
or number the fourth part[a] of Israel?
Let me die (E)the death of the upright,
and let my end be like his!”
11 And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? (F)I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Numbers 23:10 Or dust clouds
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
