Numbers 23

Modern

Literal

Balaam’s First Oracle

¹Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”

¹And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me in this place seven altars, and prepare for me in this place seven bulls and seven rams.”

²So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

²And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

³“Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone,” Balaam said to Balak. “Perhaps the LORD will meet with me. And whatever He reveals to me, I will tell you.”

So Balaam went off to a barren height,

³And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps YHWH will come to meet me, and the word of what he shows me I will tell to you.” And he went to a barren height.

⁴and God met with him. “I have set up seven altars,” Balaam said, “and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”

⁴And God met with Balaam, and he said to Him, “Seven altars I have prepared, and I have offered a bull and a ram on each altar.”

⁵Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and give him this message.”

⁵And YHWH put a word in the mouth of Balaam and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”

⁶So he returned to Balak, who was standing there beside his burnt offering, with all the princes of Moab.

⁶And he returned to him, and behold, he is standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

⁷And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying:

“Balak brought me from Aram,

the king of Moab from the mountains of the east.

‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me;

come and denounce Israel!’

⁷And he lifted up his oracle and said, “Balak has brought me from Aram, the king of Moab, from the mountains of the east: ‘Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, denounce Israel.’

⁸How can I curse those whom God has not cursed?

How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?

⁸How shall I curse those whom God has not cursed, and how shall I denounce those whom YHWH has not denounced?

⁹For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs,

and I watch them from the hills.

Behold, a people dwelling apart,

not reckoning themselves among the nations.

⁹For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him. Behold, a people dwelling apart, and among the nations not reckoning itself.

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob

or number even a fourth of Israel?

Let me die the death of the righteous;

let my end be like theirs!”

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob, and number a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his!”

¹¹Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and behold, you have only blessed them!”

¹¹And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? To curse my enemies I took you, and behold, you have surely blessed them.”

¹²But Balaam replied, “Should I not speak exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

¹²And he answered and said, “What YHWH has put in my mouth, is it not that I must guard myself to speak?”

Balaam’s Second Oracle

¹³Then 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—not all of them. And from there, curse them for me.”

¹³And Balak said to him, “Come, please, with me, to another place from that you may see them. Only the outer part of them you shall see, and you shall not see them all. And curse them for me from there.”

¹⁴So Balak took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁴And he brought 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.

¹⁵Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I meet the LORD over there.”

¹⁵And he said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, and I meet Him over there.”

¹⁶And the LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak what I tell you.”

¹⁶And YHWH met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”

¹⁷So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the princes of Moab.

“What did the LORD say?” Balak asked.

¹⁷And he came to him, and behold, he is standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has YHWH spoken?”

¹⁸Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying:

“Arise, O Balak, and listen;

give ear to me, O son of Zippor.

¹⁸And he lifted up his oracle and said, “Rise up, O Balak, and hear; give ear to me, O son of Zippor!

¹⁹God is not a man, that He should lie,

or a son of man, that He should change His mind.

Does He speak and not act?

Does He promise and not fulfill?

¹⁹God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and He will not do? Or has He spoken, and He will not fulfill?

²⁰I have indeed received a command to bless;

He has blessed, and I cannot change it.

²⁰Behold, to bless I have received; and He has blessed, and I can reverse it not.

²¹He considers no disaster for Jacob;

He sees no trouble for Israel.

The LORD their God is with them,

and the shout of the King is among them.

²¹He has observed no iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. YHWH his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them.

²²God brought them out of Egypt

with strength like a wild ox.

²²God brings them out of Egypt; strength like a wild ox He has.

²³For there is no spell against Jacob

and no divination against Israel.

It will now be said of Jacob and Israel,

‘What great things God has done!’

²³For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. Now it must be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘What God has done!’

²⁴Behold, the people rise like a lioness;

they rouse themselves like a lion,

not resting until they devour their prey

and drink the blood of the slain.”

²⁴Look, a people like a lioness rises, and like a lion lifts itself up. It shall not lie down until it devours the prey and drinks the blood of the slain.”

²⁵Now Balak said to Balaam, “Then neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”

²⁵And Balak said to Balaam, “Indeed neither curse them at all, nor indeed bless them at all.”

²⁶But Balaam replied, “Did I not tell you that whatever the LORD says, I must do?”

²⁶And Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did not I speak to you, saying, all that YHWH speaks, that is what I must do?”

²⁷“Please come,” said Balak, “I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there.”

²⁷And Balak said to Balaam, “Come, please, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please the eye of God that you may curse them for me from there.”

²⁸And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.^a

²⁸And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks toward the face of Jeshimon.

²⁹Then Balaam said, “Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”

²⁹And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me in this place seven altars, and prepare for me in this place seven bulls and seven rams.”

³⁰So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

³⁰And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.