Context
6So he returned to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, he and all the leaders of Moab.
7He took up his discourse and said,
From Aram Balak has brought me,
Moabs king from the mountains of the East,
Come curse Jacob for me,
And come, denounce Israel!
8How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
And how can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?
9As 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.
10Who 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!
11Then Balak said to Balaam, What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have actually blessed them! 12He replied, Must I not be careful to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?
13Then Balak said to him, Please come with me to another place from where 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. 14So 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. 15And he said to Balak, Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet the LORD over there. 16Then the LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak. 17He 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?
18Then he took up his discourse and said,
Arise, O Balak, and hear;
Give ear to me, O son of Zippor!
19God 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?
20Behold, I have received a command to bless;
When He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it.
21He 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.
22God brings them out of Egypt,
He is for them like the horns of the wild ox.
23For 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!
24Behold, 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.
25Then Balak said to Balaam, Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all! 26But Balaam replied to Balak, Did I not tell you, Whatever the LORD speaks, that I must do?
27Then 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. 28So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks the wasteland. 29Balaam said to Balak, Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here. 30Balak did just as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.
NASB ©1995
Parallel Verses
American Standard VersionAnd he returned unto him, and, lo, he was standing by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.
Douay-Rheims BibleReturning he found Balac standing by his burnt offering, with all the princes of the Moabites:
Darby Bible TranslationAnd he returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.
English Revised VersionAnd he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.
Webster's Bible TranslationAnd he returned to him and lo, he stood by his burnt-sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.
World English BibleHe returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.
Young's Literal Translation And he turneth back unto him, and lo, he is standing by his burnt-offering, he and all the princes of Moab.
Library
An Unfulfilled Desire
'... Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!'--NUM. xxiii. 10. '... Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.'--NUM. xiii. 8. Ponder these two pictures. Take the first scene. A prophet, who knows God and His will, is standing on the mountain top, and as he looks down over the valley beneath him, with its acacia-trees and swift river, there spread the tents of Israel. He sees them, and knows that they are 'a people whom the Lord hath blessed.' Brought there …
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It is strange how little we know of the personal history of the greatest of uninspired Jewish writers of old, though he occupied so prominent a position in his time. [173] Philo was born in Alexandria, about the year 20 before Christ. He was a descendant of Aaron, and belonged to one of the wealthiest and most influential families among the Jewish merchant-princes of Egypt. His brother was the political head of that community in Alexandria, and he himself on one occasion represented his co-religionists, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
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…
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Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
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Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12
Memoir of John Bunyan
THE FIRST PERIOD. THIS GREAT MAN DESCENDED FROM IGNOBLE PARENTS--BORN IN POVERTY--HIS EDUCATION AND EVIL HABITS--FOLLOWS HIS FATHER'S BUSINESS AS A BRAZIER--ENLISTS FOR A SOLDIER--RETURNS FROM THE WARS AND OBTAINS AN AMIABLE, RELIGIOUS WIFE--HER DOWER. 'We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.'--2 Cor 4:7 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.'--Isaiah 55:8. 'Though ye have lien among the …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3
How those are to be Admonished who Abstain not from the Sins which they Bewail, and those Who, Abstaining from Them, Bewail them Not.
(Admonition 31.) Differently to be admonished are those who lament their transgressions, and yet forsake them not, and those who forsake them, and yet lament them not. For those who lament their transgressions and yet forsake them not are to be admonished to learn to consider anxiously that they cleanse themselves in vain by their weeping, if they wickedly defile themselves in their living, seeing that the end for which they wash themselves in tears is that, when clean, they may return to filth. …
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John Bunyan—Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
Christ a Complete Saviour:
OR, THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST, AND WHO ARE PRIVILEGED IN IT. BY JOHN BUNYAN Advertisement by the Editor. However strange it may appear, it is a solemn fact, that the heart of man, unless prepared by a sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, rejects Christ as a complete Saviour. The pride of human nature will not suffer it to fall, as helpless and utterly undone, into the arms of Divine mercy. Man prefers a partial Saviour; one who had done so much, that, with the sinner's aid, the work might be …
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Of the Decrees of God.
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Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning
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