CHAPTER 23
1 And Balaam said to Balak, Build thou here to me seven altars, and make thou ready so many calves, and rams of the same number.
2 And when Balak had done by the word of Balaam, they putted a calf and a ram together on the altar.
3 And Balaam said to Balak, Stand thou a little while beside thy burnt sacrifice, while I go, if in hap the Lord meet me; and I shall tell thee what-ever thing he shall command. And when he had gone [away] swiftly,
4 God came to him; and Balaam spake to him, and said, I have raised up seven altars, and I have put a calf and a ram above each of them.
5 Forsooth the Lord putted a word in his mouth, and said, Turn again to Balak, and thou shalt speak these things.
6 He turned again, and found Balak standing beside his burnt sacrifice, and all the princes of Moabites.
7 And when his parable was taken, he said, Balak, the king of Moabites, brought me from Aram, from the hills of the east; and he said, Come thou, and curse Jacob; haste thou, and curse Israel.
8 How shall I curse, whom God hath cursed not? by what reason shall I loathe, whom God loatheth not?
9 From the highest flints I shall see him, and from the little hills I shall behold him; the people shall dwell alone, and it shall not be reckoned among heathen men.
10 Who may number the dust, that is, the kindred, of Jacob, and who may know the number of the generation of Israel? My life die in the death of just [or rightwise] men, and my last things be made like them!
11 And Balak said to Balaam, What is this that thou doest? I called thee, that thou shouldest curse mine enemies, and on the contrary, thou blessest them.
12 To whom Balaam answered, Whether I may speak other thing, no but that that the Lord commandeth?
13 Therefore Balak said to Balaam, Come with me into another place, from whence thou mayest see a part of Israel, and thou mayest not see all; from thence curse thou him.
14 And when he had led Balaam into an high place, on the top of the hill of Pisgah, he builded there seven altars to Balaam, and when calves and rams were put above them,
15 Balaam said to Balak, Stand here beside thy burnt sacrifice, while I go to meet with the Lord.
16 And when the Lord had met with Balaam, and had put a word in his mouth, he said, Turn again to Balak, and thou shalt say these things to him.
17 He turned again, and found Balak standing beside his burnt sacrifice, and the princes of Moabites with him. To whom Balak said, What hath spoken the Lord?
18 And when his parable was taken, he said, Stand thou, Balak, and hearken; hear, thou son of Zippor.
19 God is not a man, that he lie, neither he is as the son of a man, that he be changed; therefore he hath said, and shall he not do it? he hath spoken, and shall he not fulfill it?
20 I am brought hither by the Lord to bless; I may not forbid, or hinder, blessing.
21 None idol is in Jacob, neither simulacrum is seen in Israel; his Lord God is with him, and the sound of the victory of a king is in him.
22 The Lord God led him out of Egypt, whose strength is like an unicorn;
23 false divining by chittering of birds is not in Jacob, neither false divining is in Israel. In his times, when, where, and how God will, it shall be said to Jacob and to Israel, What the Lord hath wrought!
24 Lo! the people shall rise together as a lioness, and it shall be raised as a lion; the lion shall not rest, till he devour [the] prey, and drink the blood of them that be slain.
25 And Balak said to Balaam, Neither curse thou, neither bless thou him.
26 And Balaam said, Whether I said not to thee, that whatever thing God commanded to me, I would do that?
27 And Balak said to him, Come, and I shall lead thee to another place, if in hap it pleaseth God that from thence thou curse him.
28 And when Balak had led him out on the top of the hill of Peor, that beholdeth the wilderness,
29 Balaam said to Balak, Build here seven altars to me, and make ready so many calves, and rams of the same number.
30 Balak did as Balaam said, and he put the calves and the rams, by all the altars.