Numbers 23

God's Meeting with Balaam Numbers 23:3–6

³Verse 3. 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. ⁴Verse 4. 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.” ⁵Verse 5. Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ⁶Verse 6. He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.

First Oracle: Blessing instead of Cursing Numbers 23:7–12

⁷Verse 7. 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.⁸Verse 8. How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied?⁹Verse 9. 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.¹⁰Verse 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!”¹¹Verse 11. Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether.”¹²Verse 12. He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?”

Balak's Frustration and Balaam's Response Numbers 23:13–19

¹³Verse 13. Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you may see them. You shall see just part of them, and shall not see them all. Curse them from there for me.” ¹⁴Verse 14. He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar. ¹⁵Verse 15. He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet God over there.” ¹⁶Verse 16. Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.” ¹⁷Verse 17. He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh spoken?”

¹⁸Verse 18. He took up his parable, and said, “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor. ¹⁹Verse 19. God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?

Second Oracle: Israel's Strength Numbers 23:20–24

²⁰Verse 20. Behold, I have received a command to bless.He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it.²¹Verse 21. He has not seen iniquity in Jacob.Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel.Yahweh his God is with him.The shout of a king is among them.²²Verse 22. God brings them out of Egypt.He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.²³Verse 23. Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob;Neither is there any divination with Israel.Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel,‘What has God done!’²⁴Verse 24. Behold, the people rises up as a lioness.As a lion he lifts himself up.He shall not lie down until he eats of the prey,and drinks the blood of the slain.”

Balak's Continued Requests Numbers 23:25–30

²⁵Verse 25. Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.” ²⁶Verse 26. But Balaam answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do?’” ²⁷Verse 27. Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” ²⁸Verse 28. Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert. ²⁹Verse 29. Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.” ³⁰Verse 30. Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.