Numbers 23
EasyEnglish Bible
Balaam's first message from God
23 Balaam said to King Balak, ‘Build seven altars here for me. Prepare seven bulls and seven male sheep.’ 2 Balak did this. Balaam and Balak then offered a bull and a male sheep on each altar as a sacrifice.
3 Then Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stand next to your burnt offering. I will go to see if the Lord will come to meet me. If he shows something to me, I will tell you about it.’ Then Balaam went to the top of a hill where there were no trees.
4 Balaam said to the Lord, ‘I made seven altars. On each altar, I have offered a bull and a male sheep.’
5 God told Balaam the message that he should speak to Balak.
6 So Balaam returned to Balak. Balak was still standing by his burnt offering with all the Moabite officers.
7 Then Balaam started to speak his message from God. He said, ‘Balak, the king of Moab, has brought me from Syria. He brought me from the mountains in the east. He said “Come and curse Jacob's descendants for me. Say bad things against the Israelites!”
8 But I cannot curse these people, because God has not cursed them. I cannot speak against people that the Lord does not speak against.
9 When I stand on the rocks, I can see the Israelites. I can watch them from the hills. They are people who are separate from other nations.
10 Nobody can count Jacob's descendants. They are as many as the dust on the ground! It would be too difficult to count even a quarter of the Israelites. I would like to die in peace like those righteous people!’
11 Balak said to Balaam, ‘You have not done what I wanted you to do! I brought you here to curse my enemies. But you have blessed them!’
12 Balaam answered, ‘I can only speak the message that the Lord has told me.’
Balaam's second message from God
13 Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘Please come with me to another place where you can see the Israelites. You will not see all of them from there. Then curse those people for me.’
14 Balak took Balaam to the field of Zophim. It was at the top of Pisgah mountain. Balak built seven altars there. He offered a bull and a male sheep on each altar as sacrifices.
15 Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stay here beside your burnt offering. I will go to meet with the Lord.’
16 The Lord met Balaam and told him the message that he should speak to Balak. He told Balaam to go and tell it to Balak. 17 So Balaam went back to Balak. Balak and the Moabite officers were standing beside the burnt offerings. Balak asked Balaam, ‘What did the Lord say?’
18 Balaam spoke his message from God. He said, ‘Balak, son of Zippor, be ready! Listen carefully to me.
19 God is not human. He does not tell lies. He does not change his thoughts. If he promises to do something, it happens. 20 He told me that I must bless the Israelites. He has blessed them, so I must do it too.
21 I do not see that any trouble will come to the Israelites. The Lord their God is with them, to help them. They call him their king. 22 He brought them out of Egypt. He fights on their behalf, as strong as a wild bull.
23 Nobody can curse the Israelites. No magic has any power to hurt them. Now people will say about them, “See the great things that God has done for them!” 24 The Israelites are like a strong lion. It eats the animals that it has killed. It does not rest until it has eaten as much as it wants. It also drinks their blood.’
25 Balak said to Balaam, ‘You do not have to curse the Israelites, but please do not bless them!’ 26 Balaam replied, ‘I already told you, “I must do everything that the Lord tells me.” ’
27 Balak said to Balaam, ‘Let me take you to a different place. Perhaps God will let you curse the Israelites from that place.’ 28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor mountain. From there they could look over the desert. 29 Balaam said, ‘Build seven altars here. Prepare seven bulls and seven male sheep as sacrifices.’ 30 Balak did that. He offered a bull and a male sheep on each altar as sacrifices.
Numbers 23
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised
23 1 Then Balaam said to Balak, ‘Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.’ 2 Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 Then Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stay here beside your burnt-offerings while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.’ And he went to a bare height.
4 Then God met Balaam; and Balaam said to him, ‘I have arranged the seven altars, and have offered a bull and a ram on each altar.’ 5 The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, ‘Return to Balak, and this is what you must say.’ 6 So he returned to Balak,[a] who was standing beside his burnt-offerings with all the officials of Moab. 7 Then Balaam[b] uttered his oracle, saying:
‘Balak has brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
“Come, curse Jacob for me;
Come, denounce Israel!”
8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?
9 For from the top of the crags I see him,
from the hills I behold him.
Here is a people living alone,
and not reckoning itself among the nations!
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob,
or number the dust-cloud[c] of Israel?
Let me die the death of the upright,
and let my end be like his!’
11 Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them.’ 12 He answered, ‘Must I not take care to say what the Lord puts into my mouth?’
Balaam’s Second Oracle
13 So Balak said to him, ‘Come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only part of them, and shall not see them all; then curse them for me from there.’ 14 So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah. He built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 15 Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stand here beside your burnt-offerings, while I meet the Lord over there.’ 16 The Lord met Balaam, put a word into his mouth, and said, ‘Return to Balak, and this is what you shall say.’ 17 When he came to him, he was standing beside his burnt-offerings with the officials of Moab. Balak said to him, ‘What has the Lord said?’ 18 Then Balaam uttered his oracle, saying:
‘Rise, Balak, and hear;
listen to me, O son of Zippor:
19 God is not a human being, that he should lie,
or a mortal, that he should change his mind.
Has he promised, and will he not do it?
Has he spoken, and will he not fulfil it?
20 See, 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,
acclaimed as a king among them.
22 God, who brings them out of Egypt,
is like the horns of a wild ox for them.
23 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob,
no divination against Israel;
now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,
“See what God has done!”
24 Look, a people rising up like a lioness,
and rousing itself like a lion!
It does not lie down until it has eaten the prey
and drunk the blood of the slain.’
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.’ 26 But Balaam answered Balak, ‘Did I not tell you, “Whatever the Lord says, that is what I must do”?’
27 So 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 Peor, which overlooks the waste-land.[d] 29 Balaam said to Balak, ‘Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.’ 30 So Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
Footnotes
- Numbers 23:6 Heb him
- Numbers 23:7 Heb he
- Numbers 23:10 Or fourth part
- Numbers 23:28 Or overlooks Jeshimon
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New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 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.