231 Then Balaam said to Balak , "Build seven altars for me here , and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here ." 2 Balak did just as Balaam had spoken , and Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar . 3 Then Balaam said to Balak , "Stand beside your burnt offering , and I will go ; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever e He shows me I will tell you." So he went to a bare hill . 4 Now God met Balaam , and he said to Him, "I have set up the seven altars , and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each altar . 5 Then the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth and said , "Return to Balak , and you shall speak thus ." 6 So he returned to him, and behold , he was standing beside his burnt offering , he and all the leaders of Moab . 7 He took up his discourse and said , "From Aram Balak has brought me, Moab's king from the mountains of the East , ' Come curse Jacob for me, And come , denounce Israel !' 8 " How shall I curse whom God has not cursed ? And how can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced ? 9 "As I see him from the top of the rocks , And I look at him from the hills ; Behold , a people who dwells apart , And will not be reckoned among the nations . 10 " Who can count the dust of Jacob , Or number the fourth part of Israel ? Let me die the death of the upright , And let my end be like his!" 11 Then Balak said to Balaam , "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies , but behold , you have actually blessed them!" 12 He replied , "Must I not be careful to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth ?"

13 Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from where e you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there ." 14 So he took him to the field of Zophim , to the top of Pisgah , and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar 15 And he said to Balak , "Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet the Lord over there ." 16 Then the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said , "Return to Balak , and thus you shall speak ." 17 He came to him, and behold , he was standing beside his burnt offering , and the leaders of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, "What has the Lord spoken ?" 18 Then he took up his discourse and said , "Arise , O Balak , and hear ; Give ear to me, O son of Zippor ! 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 20 "Behold , I have received a command to bless ; When He has blessed , then I cannot revoke it. 21 " He has not observed misfortune in Jacob ; Nor has He seen trouble in Israel ; The Lord his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them 22 " God brings them out of Egypt , He is for them like the horns of the wild ox . 23 " For there is no omen against Jacob , Nor is there any divination against Israel ; At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob And to Israel , what God has done ! 24 " Behold , a people rises like a lioness , And as a lion it lifts itself; It will not lie down until it devours the prey , And drinks the blood of the slain ." 25 Then Balak said to Balaam , "Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all !" 26 But Balaam replied to Balak , "Did I not tell you, ' Whatever e the Lord speaks , that I must do '?" 27 Then Balak said to Balaam , "Please come , I will take you to another place ; perhaps it will be agreeable with God that you curse them for me from there ." 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks e e the wasteland . 29 Balaam said to Balak , "Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here ." 30 Balak did just as Balaam had said , and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar .