Numbers 23
Tree of Life Version
A Curse Turns to Blessings
23 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 So Balak did just as Balaam had said. Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering. I will go and perhaps Adonai will meet me. Whatever message He shows me, I will tell you. Then he went to a barren height.
4 God met with Balaam and he said to Him, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I offered a bull and a ram.”
5 Adonai put a message into Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and speak this.”
6 Balaam went back to him. Behold, he was standing beside his offering with all the princes of Moab. 7 Then he uttered his oracle and said,
“From Aram, Balak brought me,
Moab’s king from the mountains of the east:
‘Come! Curse Jacob for me!
‘Come! Denounce Israel!’
8 How can I curse one
whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce one
whom Adonai has not denounced?
9 From the rocky peaks I see him.
From the heights I behold him.
Look, he lives as a nation apart,
and does not consider himself
as being like the other nations.
10 Who can count Jacob’s dust?
Who can number a fourth of Israel?
Let my soul die the death of the upright,
and let my end be like his!”
11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but look, you’ve actually blessed them!”
12 But in response he said, “Mustn’t I speak whatever Adonai puts into my mouth?”
13 Then Balak said to him, “Come now with me to another place where you can see a part of them only, not all of them. Curse them for me from there.”
14 He took him to Lookout Field on top of Pisgah. He built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
15 “Stay here beside your offering,” he said to Balak, “while I am meeting over there.”
16 Adonai met Balaam there and put a message into his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak and speak thus.” 17 So he went to him, and behold, he and the princes of Moab were standing beside his offering.
Balak asked him, “What did Adonai say?”
18 So he uttered his oracle and said:
“Rise, Balak! Hear me, son of Zippor!
19 God is not a man who lies,[a]
or a son of man who changes his mind!
Does He speak and then not do it,
or promise and not fulfill it?
20 Look, I received a command to bless.
He has blessed—I cannot change it!
21 No misfortune is to be seen in Jacob,
and no misery in Israel!
Adonai their God is with them
—the King’s shout is among them!
22 God is bringing them from Egypt
with the strong horns of the wild ox!
23 There is no sorcery effective
against Jacob,
nor any divination against Israel!
Now it will be said of Jacob and Israel,
‘See what God has done!’
24 The people rise like a lioness,
like a lion who does not rest
until he eats his prey
and drinks his victim’s blood!”
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them or bless them at all!”
26 Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Haven’t I told you, ‘All that Adonai says, I must do?’
27 Balak said to Balaam, “Come with me to another place. Perhaps it will be pleasing to God and you may curse them for me from there.” 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.
29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”
30 Balak did just as Balaam said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
Footnotes
- Numbers 23:19 cf. Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18.
Numbers 23
King James Version
23 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.
2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.
3 And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the Lord will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place.
4 And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram.
5 And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.
6 And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.
7 And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.
8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?
9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!
11 And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.
12 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth?
13 And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence.
14 And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.
15 And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the Lord yonder.
16 And the Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus.
17 And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the Lord spoken?
18 And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:
19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.
21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.
22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.
23 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!
24 Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.
25 And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.
26 But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speaketh, that I must do?
27 And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.
28 And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward jeshimon.
29 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.
30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.
Copyright © 2004 by World Bible Translation Center