Numbers 23:1-20 ▼

1 And Balam sayed vnto Balac: bylde me here seven alters and prouyde here. seue oxen and seuen rammes.

2 And Balac dyd as Balam sayed. And Balac and Balam offered on euery alter an oxe and a ram.

3 And Balam sayed vnto Balac: stonde by the sacrifyce whyle I goo to wete whether the Lorde will come ad mete me: and what soeuer he sheweth me I will tell the and he went forthwith.

4 And god came vnto Balam and Balam sayed vnto him: I haue prepared .vij. alters and haue offered apo euery alter an oxe and a ram.

5 And ye Lorde put a sayenge in Balas mouth and sayed: goo agayne to Balac and saye on this wyse.

6 And he went agayne vnto him and loo he stode by his sacrifice both he ad all the lordes of Moab.

7 And he began hys parable and sayed: Balac the kinge of Moab hath fett me fro Mesopotamia out of the mountaynes of the easte sayenge: come and curse me Iacob come and defye me Israel.

8 How shall I curse whom God curseth not and how shall I defye whom the Lorde defyeth not?

9 from the toppe of ye rockes I se him and from the hylles I beholde him: loo ye people shall dwell by him selfe and shall not be rekened amoge other nacions.

10 Who can tell the dust of Iacob and the numbre of the fourth parte of Israel. I praye God that my soule maye dye the deeth of the righteous ad that my last ende maye be like his.

11 And Balac sayed vnto Balam what hast thou done vnto me? I fett ye to curse myne enemyes: and beholde thou blessest them.

12 And he answered and sayed: must I not kepe that and speake it which the Lorde hath put in my mouthe?

13 And Balac sayed vnto him: Come I praye the with me vnto another place whence thou shalt se them and shalt se but ye vtmoste parte of them ad shalt not se them all and curse me them there.

14 And he brought him in to a playne felde where men myght se farre euen to the toppe of Pisga and bylt .vij. alters and offered an oxe and a ra on euery alter.

15 And he sayed vnto Balac: stonde here by thi sacrifyce whyle I goo yonder.

16 And the Lorde mett Balam and put wordes in his mouth and sayed: goo agayne vnto Balac ad thus saye.

17 And when he came to him: beholde he stode by his sacrifyce and the lordes of Moab with him And Balac sayed vnto him: what sayeth ye Lorde?

18 And he toke vp his parable and sayed: ryse vpp Balac and heare and herken vnto me thou sonne of Ziphor

19 The Lorde is not a ma that he can lye nether the sonne of a ma that he can repent: shulde he saye and not doo or shulde he speake and not make it good?

20 beholde I haue begon to blesse and haue blessed and can not goo backe there fro.