Numbers 23

Balaam’s First Oracle

¹ Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” ²Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

³ Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.

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

⁵ The LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this message.”

⁶ So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the princes of Moab. ⁷ Then Balaam uttered his oracle:
“Balak brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.
‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.’

⁸ How can I curse
those whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce
those whom the LORD has not denounced?

⁹ From the rocky peaks I see them,
from the heights I view them.
I see a people who live apart
and do not consider themselves one of the nations.

¹⁰ Who can count the dust of Jacob
or number the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous,
and may my end be like theirs!”

¹¹ Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”

¹² He answered, “Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

Balaam’s Second Oracle

¹³ Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will see only a part but not all of them. And from there, curse them for me.” ¹⁴So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵ Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.”

¹⁶ The LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this message.”

¹⁷ So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the princes of Moab. Balak asked him, “What did the LORD say?”

¹⁸ Then he uttered his oracle:
“Arise, Balak, and listen;
hear me, son of Zippor.

¹⁹ God is not a man, that he should lie,
nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?

²⁰ I have received a command to bless;
he has blessed, and I cannot change it.

²¹ “No misfortune is seen in Jacob,
no misery observed in Israel. ^[a]
The LORD their God is with them;
the shout of the King is among them.

²² God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox.

²³ There is no sorcery against Jacob,
no divination against Israel.
It will now be said of Jacob
and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’

²⁴ The people rise like a lioness;
they rouse themselves like a lion
that does not rest till he devours his prey
and drinks the blood of his victims.”

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

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

Balaam’s Third Oracle

²⁷ Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.” ²⁸And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.

²⁹ Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” ³⁰ Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Numbers 24

¹ Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not resort to sorcery as at other times, but turned his face toward the desert. ² When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came upon him ³ and he uttered his oracle:
“The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,
the oracle of one whose eye sees clearly,

⁴ the oracle of one who hears the words of God,
who sees a vision from the Almighty, ^[b]
who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:

⁵ “How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob,
your dwelling places, O Israel!

⁶ “Like valleys they spread out,
like gardens beside a river,
like aloes planted by the LORD,
like cedars beside the waters.

⁷ Water will flow from their buckets;
their seed will have abundant water.
“Their king will be greater than Agag;
their kingdom will be exalted.

⁸ “God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox.
They devour hostile nations
and break their bones in pieces;
with their arrows they pierce them.

⁹ Like a lion they crouch and lie down,
like a lioness—who dares to rouse them?
“May those who bless you be blessed
and those who curse you be cursed!”

¹⁰ Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to him, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. ¹¹ Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the LORD has kept you from being rewarded.”

¹² Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell the messengers you sent me, ¹³ ‘Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the LORD -and I must say only what the LORD says’? ¹⁴ Now I am going back to my people, but come, let me warn you of what this people will do to your people in days to come.”

Balaam’s Fourth Oracle

¹⁵ Then he uttered his oracle:
“The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,
the oracle of one whose eye sees clearly,

¹⁶ the oracle of one who hears the words of God,
who has knowledge from the Most High,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:

¹⁷ “I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob;
a scepter will rise out of Israel.
He will crush the foreheads of Moab,
the skulls ^[c] of ^[d] all the sons of Sheth. ^[e]

¹⁸ Edom will be conquered;
Seir, his enemy, will be conquered,
but Israel will grow strong.

¹⁹ A ruler will come out of Jacob
and destroy the survivors of the city.”

Balaam’s Final Oracles

²⁰ Then Balaam saw Amalek and uttered his oracle:
“Amalek was first among the nations,
but he will come to ruin at last.”

²¹ Then he saw the Kenites and uttered his oracle:
“Your dwelling place is secure,
your nest is set in a rock;

²² yet you Kenites will be destroyed
when Asshur takes you captive.”

²³ Then he uttered his oracle:
“Ah, who can live when God does this? ^[f]

²⁴ Ships will come from the shores of Kittim;
they will subdue Asshur and Eber,
but they too will come to ruin.”

²⁵ Then Balaam got up and returned home and Balak went his own way.