Balaam’s First Oracle

¹ Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”

² So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

³ “Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone,” Balaam said to Balak. “Perhaps the LORD will meet with me. And whatever He reveals to me, I will tell you.”

So Balaam went off to a barren height, ⁴ and God met with him. “I have set up seven altars,” Balaam said, “and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”

⁵ Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and give him this message.”

⁶ So he returned to Balak, who was standing there beside his burnt offering, with all the princes of Moab.

⁷ And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying:

“Balak brought me from Aram,

the king of Moab from the mountains of the east.

‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me;

come and denounce Israel!’

⁸ How can I curse those whom God has not cursed?

How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?

⁹ For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs,

and I watch them from the hills.

Behold, a people dwelling apart,^*

not reckoning themselves among the nations.

¹⁰ Who can count the dust of Jacob

or number even a fourth of Israel?

Let me^* die the death of the righteous;

let my end be like theirs!”

¹¹ Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and behold, you have only blessed them!”

¹² But Balaam replied, “Should I not speak exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

Balaam’s Second Oracle

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 — not all of them. And from there, curse them for me.”

¹⁴ So Balak took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵ Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I meet the LORD over there.”

¹⁶ And the LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak what I tell you.”

¹⁷ So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the princes of Moab.

“What did the LORD say?” Balak asked.

¹⁸ Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying:

“Arise, O Balak, and listen;

give ear to me, O son of Zippor.

¹⁹ God is not a man, that He should lie,

or a son of man,^* that He should change His mind.^*

Does He speak and not act?

Does He promise and not fulfill?

²⁰ I have indeed received a command to bless;

He has blessed, and 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 the shout^* of the King^* is among them.

²² God brought them out of Egypt

with strength like a wild ox.

²³ For there is no spell against Jacob

and no divination against Israel.

It will now be said of Jacob and Israel,

‘What great things God has done!’

²⁴ Behold, the people rise like a lioness;

they rouse themselves like a lion,

not resting until they devour their prey

and drink the blood of the slain.”

²⁵ Now Balak said to Balaam, “Then neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”

²⁶ But Balaam replied, “Did I not tell you that whatever the LORD says, I must do?”

²⁷ “Please come,” said Balak, “I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there.”

²⁸ And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.

²⁹ Then Balaam said, “Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”

³⁰ So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.