Numbers 23 - Christian Standard Bible Anglicised

Balaam’s Oracles

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.

Balaam’s First Oracle

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 quarter 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? ’

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; 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 fulfil?

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? ’

Balaam’s Third Oracle

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.