7 He took up his discourse and said, |From Aram Balak has brought me, Moab's king from the mountains of the East, Come curse Jacob for me, And come, denounce Israel!'
8 |How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?
9 |As 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.
10 |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!|
11 Then Balak said to Balaam, |What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have actually blessed them!|
12 He replied, |Must I not be careful to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?|
13 Then 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.|
14 So 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.
15 And he said to Balak, |Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet [the LORD] over there.|
16 Then the LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, |Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.|
17 He 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?|
18 Then he took up his discourse and said, |Arise, O Balak, and hear; Give ear to me, O son of Zippor!
19 |God 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?
20 |Behold, I have received [a command] to bless; When He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it.
21 |He 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.
22 |God brings them out of Egypt, He is for them like the horns of the wild ox.
23 |For 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!
24 |Behold, 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.|
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, |Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all!|
26 But Balaam replied to Balak, |Did I not tell you, 'Whatever the LORD speaks, that I must do'?|
27 Then 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.|
28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks the wasteland.
29 Balaam said to Balak, |Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.|
30 Balak did just as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on [each] altar.
