Numbers 23:1-14 ▼

1 And Balaam said vnto Balac: Buylde me here seuen aulters, & prepare me here seuen oxen & seuen rammes.

2 And Balac dyd as Balaam sayde: And Balac and Balaam offred on euery aulter an oxe and a ramme.

3 And Balaam said vnto Balac: Stand by thy sacrifice, and I will go, if happly the Lorde will meete me: and whatsoeuer he sheweth me, I wyll tell thee. And he went vp hyer.

4 But God met Balaam, & Balaam sayd vnto hym: I haue prepared seuen aulters, and haue offred vpon euery aulter an oxe and a ramme.

5 And the Lorde put a saying in Balaams mouth, and sayde: Go agayne to Balac, and say on this wyse.

6 And when he went agayne vnto him, lo, he stoode by his burnt sacrifice, he and all the lordes of Moab.

7 And he toke vp his parable, and sayd: Balac the king of Moab hath brought me fro Mesopotamia, out of the mountaynes of the east, saying Come, curse Iacob for my sake, come and defie Israel.

8 Howe shall I curse hym, whom God hath not cursed? or howe shall I defie hym, whom God hath not defied?

9 For from the toppe of the rockes I see hym, and from the hylles I beholde hym: lo, the people shall dwell by them selues, and shal not be reckened among the nations.

10 Who can tell the dust of Iacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? I pray God that my soule may dye the death of the righteous, and that my last ende may be like his.

11 And Balac sayd vnto Balaam: What hast thou done vnto me? I toke thee to curse myne enemies, and beholde thou hast blessed them altogether.

12 He aunswered and sayd: Must I not take heede to speake that whiche the lorde hath put in my mouth?

13 And Balac sayde vnto hym: Come I pray thee with me vnto another place, whence thou mayest see them, and thou shalt see but the vtmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: curse them out of that place for my sake.

14 And he brought hym into a fielde, where men myght see farre of, euen to the toppe of an hyll, and buylt seuen aulters, and offred an oxe and a ramme on euery aulter.