The Prophecies of Balaam

23 Then Balaam said to Balak, (A)“Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam (B)offered a bull and a ram on each altar. Then Balaam said to Balak, (C)“Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come (D)to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a desolate height. (E)And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”

Then the Lord (F)put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” So he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

And he (G)took up his [a]oracle and said:

“Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram,
From the mountains of the east.
(H)‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
And come, (I)denounce Israel!’

“How(J) shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
For from the top of the rocks I see him,
And from the hills I behold him;
There! (K)A people dwelling alone,
(L)Not reckoning itself among the nations.

10 “Who(M) can count the [b]dust of Jacob,
Or number one-fourth of Israel?
Let me die (N)the death of the righteous,
And let my end be like his!”

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 23:7 prophetic discourse
  2. Numbers 23:10 Or dust cloud

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