Numbers 23:1-10
Modern English Version
23 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me seven altars, and prepare for me seven oxen and seven rams.” 2 Balak did as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.
3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a high place.
4 God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on every altar a bull and a ram.”
5 The Lord put a word in the mouth of Balaam and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you will speak.”
6 So he returned to Balak, who was standing by his burnt offering with all the princes of Moab. 7 Then Balaam uttered his oracle, saying:
“Balak has brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the mountains of the east,
saying, ‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
and come, defy Israel!’
8 How will I curse
whom God has not cursed?
Or how will I defy
whom the Lord has not defied?
9 For from the top of the rocks I see him,
and from the hills I behold him;
there, the people will dwell alone
and will not be counted 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!”
Numbers 23:1-10
American Standard Version
23 1 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks 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 Jehovah will come to meet me; and whatsoever he showeth me I will tell thee. And he went to a bare height. 4 And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar. 5 And Jehovah 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 was standing by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab. 7 And he took up his parable, and said,
From Aram hath Balak brought me,
The king of Moab from the mountains of the East:
Come, curse me Jacob,
And come, [a]defy Israel.
8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed?
And how shall I defy, whom Jehovah hath not defied?
9 For from the top of the rocks I see him,
And from the hills I behold him:
Lo, it is a people that dwelleth alone,
And shall not be reckoned among the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob,
[b]Or number the fourth part of Israel?
Let [c]me die the death of the righteous,
And let my last end be like his!
Footnotes
- Numbers 23:7 Hebrew be wroth against.
- Numbers 23:10 Hebrew Or, by number, the etc.
- Numbers 23:10 Hebrew my soul.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
Public Domain (Why are modern Bible translations copyrighted?)