Numbers:23

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* And Balaam said to Balak , "Build for me here seven altars , and provide for me here seven bulls and seven rams ." * Balak did as Balaam had said ; and Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram . * And Balaam said to Balak , "Stand beside your burnt offering , and I will go ; perhaps the LORD will come to meet me ; and whatever he shows me I will tell you ." And he went to a bare height . * And God met Balaam ; and Balaam said to him , "I have prepared the seven altars , and I have offered upon each altar a bull and a ram ." * And the LORD put a word in Balaam 's mouth , and said , "Return to Balak , and thus you shall speak ." * And he returned to him , and lo , he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering . * And Balaam took up his discourse , and said , "From Aram Balak has brought me , the king of Moab from the eastern mountains : `Come , curse Jacob for me , and come , denounce Israel !' * How can I curse whom God has not cursed ? How can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced ? * For from the top of the mountains I see him , from the hills I behold him ; lo , a people dwelling alone , and not reckoning itself among the nations ! * Who can count the dust of Jacob , or number the fourth part of Israel ? Let me die the death of the righteous , and let my end be like his !" * And Balak said to Balaam , "What have you done to me ? I took you to curse my enemies , and behold , you have done nothing but bless them ." * And he answered , "Must I not take heed to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth ?" * And Balak said to him , "Come with me to another place , from which you may see them ; you shall see only the nearest of them , and shall not see them all ; then curse them for me from there ." * And 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 . * Balaam said to Balak , "Stand here beside your burnt offering , while I meet the LORD yonder ." * And the LORD met Balaam , and put a word in his mouth , and said , "Return to Balak , and thus shall you speak ." * And he came to him , and , lo , he was standing beside his burnt offering , and the princes of Moab with him . And Balak said to him , "What has the LORD spoken ?" * And Balaam took up his discourse , and said , "Rise , Balak , and hear ; hearken to me , O son of Zippor : * God is not man , that he should lie , or 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 fulfil it ? * Behold , I received a command to bless : he has blessed , and I cannot revoke it . * He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob ; nor has he seen trouble in Israel . The LORD their God is with them , and the shout of a king is among them . * God brings them out of Egypt ; they have as it were the horns of the wild ox . * For there is no enchantment against Jacob , no divination against Israel ; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel , `What has God wrought !' * Behold , a people ! As a lioness it rises up and as a lion it lifts itself ; it does not lie down till it devours the prey , and drinks the blood of the slain ." * And Balak said to Balaam , "Neither curse them at all , nor bless them at all ." * But Balaam answered Balak , "Did I not tell you , `All that the LORD says , that I must do '?" * And 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 ." * So Balak took Balaam to the top of Pe 'or , that overlooks the desert . * And Balaam said to Balak , "Build for me here seven altars , and provide for me here seven bulls and seven rams ." * And Balak did as Balaam had said , and offered a bull and a ram on each altar .

---