Numbers 23:1-30 CSB

[1] Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me." [2] So Balak did as Balaam directed, and they offered a bull and a ram on each altar. [3] Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone. Maybe the LORD will meet with me. I will tell you whatever he reveals to me." So he went to a barren hill. [4] God met with him and Balaam said to him, "I have arranged seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar." [5] Then the LORD put a message in Balaam's mouth and said, "Return to Balak and say what I tell you." [6] So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with all the officials of Moab. [7] Balaam proclaimed his poem: Balak brought me from Aram; the king of Moab, from the eastern mountains: "Come, put a curse on Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel!" [8] How can I curse someone God has not cursed? How can I denounce someone the LORD has not denounced? [9] I see them from the top of rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. There is a people living alone; it does not consider itself among the nations. [10] Who has counted the dust of Jacob or numbered even one-fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright; let the end of my life be like theirs. [11] "What have you done to me?" Balak asked Balaam. "I brought you to curse my enemies, but look, you have only blessed them!" [12] He answered, "Shouldn't I say exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth?" [13] Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the outskirts of their camp; you won't see all of them. From there, put a curse on them for me." [14] So Balak took him to Lookout Field on top of Pisgah, built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. [15] Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here by your burnt offering while I seek the LORD over there." [16] The LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth. Then he said, "Return to Balak and say what I tell you." [17] So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the officials of Moab. Balak asked him, "What did the LORD say?" [18] Balaam proclaimed his poem: Balak, get up and listen; son of Zippor, pay attention to what I say! [19] God is not a man, that he might lie, or a son of man, that he might change his mind. Does he speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill? [20] I have indeed received a command to bless; since he has blessed, I cannot change it. [21] He considers no disaster for Jacob; he sees no trouble for Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and there is rejoicing over the King among them. [22] God brought them out of Egypt; he is like the horns of a wild ox for them. [23] There is no magic curse against Jacob and no divination against Israel. It will now be said about Jacob and Israel, "What great things God has done!" [24] A people rise up like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion. They will not lie down until they devour the prey and drink the blood of the slain. [25] Then Balak told Balaam, "Don't curse them and don't bless them!" [26] But Balaam answered him, "Didn't I tell you: Whatever the LORD says, I must do?" [27] Again Balak said to Balaam, "Please come. I will take you to another place. Maybe it will be agreeable to God that you can put a curse on them for me there." [28] So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland. [29] Balaam told Balak, "Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me." [30] So Balak did as Balaam said and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.