Numbers Chapter 23
Balaam’s First Oracle
1 Then Balaam told Balak, “Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and rams.” 2 They offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 Balaam told him, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I’ll go. Maybe Yahveh will come to me, and I’ll tell you what he shows me.” He went to a bare hill. 4 God met him, and he said, “I’ve set up seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each one.” 5 Yahveh gave Balaam a message, “Go tell Balak such and such.” 6 He went back to Balak, who was standing by his burnt offering with the leaders of Moab.
Num 23:1-6
7Balaam took up this oracle:
“Balak brought me from Aram,
Moab’s king from the eastern mountains.
‘Come curse Jacob for me;
come denounce Israel.’
8 How can I curse someone God hasn’t cursed?
How can I denounce the one God hasn’t denounced?
9 I see him from the top of the cliffs
and look at him from the hills;
a people that lives off by itself
won’t be counted among the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob
or number even a fourth of Israel?
Let me die like the godly;
let my demise be like theirs!”
Num 23:7-10
11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I told you to curse my enemies; you’ve blessed them!”
12 “Don’t I have to say what Yahveh tells me?”
Balaam’s Second Oracle
13 Balak said, “Come to a different place, where you can see them—even though it’ll just be the tail-end of them. Curse them for me from there.” 14 He took him to the Field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and ram on each one.
15 Balaam told him, “Stand here by your burnt offering while I meet Yahveh over there.” 16 Yahveh met Balaam and gave him a message, “Go back to Balak, and say such and such.” 17 Balaam went to him, who was standing by his burnt offering with the officials of Moab. Balak asked, “What has Yahveh said?”
Num 23:11-17
18 Balaam took up this oracle:
“Balak, listen;
pay attention, son of Zippor.
19 God does not lie like people do
or change his mind like their offspring.
Has he said and won’t do?
Has he spoken and not made it good?
20 I’ve received a command to bless;
when he has blessed, I can’t revoke it.
21 He hasn’t observed misfortune in Jacob
or seen trouble in Israel.
Yahveh their God is with them,
and has been proclaimed their king.
22 God is bringing them out of Egypt;
he’s like the horns of a wild ox for them.
23 There’s no omen against Jacob,
no fortunetelling against Israel.
At the right time what God has done
will be said to Jacob;
it will be told to Israel.
24 These people rise like a lioness;
they get up like a lion.
They won’t lie down till they eat their prey
and drink the blood of the slain.”
Num 23:18-24
25 Balak told him, “Don’t curse them at all or bless them at all!”
26 But Balaam answered, “Didn’t I tell you I have to do what Yahveh says?”
27 Balak said to him, “Come on; I’ll take you to another place. Maybe God will agree to put a curse on them there.” 28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks Jeshimon. 29 Balaam told him, “Build seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and rams.” 30 Balak did that and offered a bull and ram on each altar.
Num 23:25-30