Numbers 23:7-12 ▼

7 This was the message Balaam delivered: “Balak summoned me to come from Aram; the king of Moab brought me from the eastern hills. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me! Come and announce Israel’s doom.’

8 But how can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I condemn those whom the LORD has not condemned?

9 I see them from the cliff tops; I watch them from the hills. I see a people who live by themselves, set apart from other nations.

10 Who can count Jacob’s descendants, as numerous as dust? Who can count even a fourth of Israel’s people? Let me die like the righteous; let my life end like theirs.”

11 Then King Balak demanded of Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies. Instead, you have blessed them!”

12 But Balaam replied, “I will speak only the message that the LORD puts in my mouth.”