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

Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram. Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.”

He went to a bare height. God met Balaam, and he said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.”

Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”

He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab. He took up his parable, and said,

“From Aram has Balak brought me,
    the king of Moab from the mountains of the East.
Come, curse Jacob for me.
    Come, defy Israel.
How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
    How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied?
For from the top of the rocks I see him.
    From the hills I see him.
Behold, it is a people that dwells alone,
    and shall not be listed among the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob,
    or count the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous!
    Let my last end be like his!”

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23 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram. 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. 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. And Jehovah put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. And he returned unto him, and, lo, he was standing by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab. 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.
How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed?
And how shall I defy, whom Jehovah hath not defied?
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!

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 23:7 Hebrew be wroth against.
  2. Numbers 23:10 Hebrew Or, by number, the etc.
  3. Numbers 23:10 Hebrew my soul.