“I will open my mouth in parables,
    I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”^[a](B)

⁶ for understanding proverbs and parables,^(A)
    the sayings and riddles^(B) of the wise.^[a](C)

“Balak brought me from Aram,^(C)
    the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.^(D)
‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me;
    come, denounce Israel.’^(E)

⁸ With him I speak face to face,
    clearly and not in riddles;^(A)
    he sees the form of the Lord.^(B)
Why then were you not afraid
    to speak against my servant Moses?”^(C)

“Though seeing, they do not see;
    though hearing, they do not hear or understand.^(D)

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’^[a](F)