Numbers 23

1And Balaam says to Balak, “Build seven altars for me in this [place], and prepare seven bullocks and seven rams for me in this [place].”

2And Balak does as Balaam has spoken, and Balak—Balaam also—offers a bullock and a ram on the altar,

3and Balaam says to Balak, “Station yourself by your burnt-offering and I go on, it may be YHWH comes to meet me, and the thing which He shows me I have declared to you”; and he goes [to] a high place.

4And God comes to Balaam, and he says to Him, “I have arranged the seven altars, and I offer a bullock and a ram on the altar”;

5and YHWH puts a word in the mouth of Balaam and says, “Return to Balak, and thus you speak.”

6And he returns to him, and behold, he is standing by his burnt-offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

7And he takes up his allegory and says: “Balak king of Moab leads me from Aram; From mountains of the east. Come—curse Jacob for me, || And come—be indignant [with] Israel.

8How do I pierce [when] God has not pierced? And how am I indignant [when] YHWH has not been indignant?

9For from the top of rocks I see him, || And from heights I behold him; Behold a people! He dwells alone, || And does not reckon himself among nations.

10Who has counted the dust of Jacob, || And the number of the fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of upright ones, || And let my last end be like his!”

11And Balak says to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I have taken you to pierce my enemies, and behold, you have certainly blessed”;

12and he answers and says, “That which YHWH puts in my mouth—do I not take heed to speak it?”

13And Balak says to him, “Come! Come to another place with me, from where you see it—you see only its extremity, and you do not see all of it, and pierce it for me there”;

14and he takes him [to] the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and builds seven altars, and offers a bullock and a ram on the altar.

15And he says to Balak, “Station yourself here by your burnt-offering, and I meet [Him] there”;

16and YHWH comes to Balaam, and sets a word in his mouth, and says, “Return to Balak, and thus you speak.”

17And he comes to him, and behold, he is standing by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab [are] with him, and Balak says to him: “What has YHWH spoken?”

18And he takes up his allegory and says: “Rise, Balak, and hear; Give ear to me, son of Zippor!

19God [is] not a man—and lies, || And a son of man—and relents! Has He said—and He does not do [it]? And spoken—and He does not confirm it?

20Behold, I have received [only] to bless; Indeed, He blesses, and I cannot reverse it.

21He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, || Nor has He seen perverseness in Israel; His God YHWH [is] with him, || And a shout of a king [is] in him.

22God is bringing them out from Egypt, || As the swiftness of a wild ox for him;

23For no enchantment [is] against Jacob, || Nor divination against Israel; At the time it is said of Jacob and Israel, || O what God has worked!

24Behold, the people rises as a lioness, || And he lifts himself up as a lion; He does not lie down until he eats prey, || And drinks blood of pierced ones.”

25And Balak says to Balaam, “Neither pierce it at all, nor bless it at all”;

26and Balaam answers and says to Balak, “Have I not spoken to you, saying, All that YHWH speaks—I do it?”

27And Balak says to Balaam, “Please come, I take you to another place; it may be it is right in the eyes of God to pierce it for me from there.”

28And Balak takes Balaam to the top of Peor, which is looking on the front of the wilderness,

29and Balaam says to Balak, “Build seven altars for me in this [place], and prepare seven bullocks and seven rams for me in this [place]”;

30and Balak does as Balaam said, and he offers a bullock and a ram on an altar.