Numbers 23 Parallel Bible Translations

Numbers 23 ▼
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1 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” Balaam said, “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. Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram. Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them 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. 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, Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.
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.” and God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” God met with him, and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”
5 Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and say what I tell you.” And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” The LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”
6 So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with all the officials of Moab. And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering. So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials.
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! ” 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!’ Then Balaam spoke his message: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse 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? How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced? How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom 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. For from the top of the crags I see him, from the hills I behold him; behold, a people dwelling alone, and not counting itself among the nations! From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations.
10 Who has counted the dust of Jacob or numbered even one-fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright; let the end of my life be like theirs. 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!” Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my final end 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! ” 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.” Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”
12 He answered, “Shouldn’t I say exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth? ” And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?” He answered, “Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”
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.” And Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there.” Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp. And from there, curse 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. 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. So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he 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.” Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the LORD over there.” Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him 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.” And the LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.” The LORD met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”
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? ” And he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the LORD spoken?” So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials. 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! And Balaam took up his discourse and said, “Rise, Balak, and hear; give ear to me, O son of Zippor: Then he spoke his message: “Arise, Balak, and listen; hear me, son of Zippor.
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 fulfill? God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
20 I have indeed received a command to bless; since he has blessed, I cannot change it. Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it. I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and 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. 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. “No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them.
22 God brought them out of Egypt; he is like the horns of a wild ox for them. God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of the wild ox. God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox.
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! ” For there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What has God wrought!’ There is no divination against Jacob, no evil omens against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘See what 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. Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises up and as a lion it lifts itself; it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey and drunk the blood of the slain.” The people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest till it devours its prey and drinks the blood of its victims.”
25 Then Balak told Balaam, “Don’t curse them and don’t bless them! ” And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.” Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”
26 But Balaam answered him, “Didn’t I tell you: Whatever the LORD says, I must do? ” But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the LORD says, that I must do’?” Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the LORD says?”
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.” 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.” Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.”
28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland. So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert. And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.
29 Balaam told Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” Balaam said, “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. And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
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