Numbers 23

2  And Balak did as Bilam had spoken; and Balak and Bilam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.

3  And Bilam said unto Balak: ‘Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go; peradventure Hashem will come to meet me; and whatsoever He showeth me I will tell thee.’ And he went to a bare height.

4  And God met Bilam; and he said unto Him: ‘I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.’

5  And Hashem put a word in Bilam’s mouth, and said: ‘Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.’

6  And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.

7  And he took up his parable, and said: From Aram Balak bringeth me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East: ‘Come, curse me Yakov, and come, execrate Yisrael.’

8  How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? And how shall I execrate, whom Hashem hath not execrated?

10  Who hath counted the dust of Yakov, or numbered the stock of Yisrael? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let mine end be like his!

11  And Balak said unto Bilam: ‘What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.’

12  And he answered and said: ‘Must I not take heed to speak that which Hashem putteth in my mouth?’

13  And Balak said unto him: ‘Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all; and curse me them from thence.’

14  And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.

15  And he said unto Balak: ‘Stand here by thy burnt-offering, while I go toward a meeting yonder.’

16  And Hashem met Bilam, and put a word in his mouth, and said: ‘Return unto Balak, and thus shalt thou speak.’

17  And he came to him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him: ‘What hath Hashem spoken?’

18  And he took up his parable, and said: Arise, Balak, and hear; give ear unto me, thou son of Zippor:

19  God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: when He hath said, will He not do it? or when He hath spoken, will He not make it good?

20  Behold, I am bidden to bless; and when He hath blessed, I cannot call it back.

21  None hath beheld iniquity in Yakov, neither hath one seen perverseness in Yisrael; Hashem his God is with him, and the shouting for the King is among them.

22  God who brought them forth out of Egypt is for them like the lofty horns of the wild-ox.

23  For there is no enchantment with Yakov, neither is there any divination with Yisrael; now is it said of Yakov and of Yisrael: ‘What hath God wrought!’

24  Behold a people that riseth up as a lioness, and as a lion doth he lift himself up; he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

25  And Balak said unto Bilam: ‘Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.’

26  But Bilam answered and said unto Balak: ‘Told not I thee, saying: All that Hashem speaketh, that I must do?’

27  And Balak said unto Bilam: ‘Come now, I will take thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.’

28  And Balak took Bilam unto the top of Peor, that looketh down upon the desert.

29  And Bilam said unto Balak: ‘Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.’

30  And Balak did as Bilam had said, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.