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Numbers 23:1-30 — Balaam's First Two Oracles

Num.23.1-30

¹Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams .” ²Balak did as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. ³Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height. ⁴God met Balaam, and he said to him , “I have arranged the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.” ⁵The LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth , and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ⁶So he returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab. ⁷He took up his oracle and said: "From Aram Balak has brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east: 'Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, denounce Israel!' ⁸How can I curse whom God has not cursed? And how can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced? ⁹For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I look at him. Behold, a people dwelling alone, and not reckoning itself among the nations. ¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!" ¹¹Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have completely blessed them!” ¹²He answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?” ¹³Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them; you shall see only the outskirts of them, and shall not see them all. And curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. ¹⁵He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet the LORD over there.” ¹⁶The LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ¹⁷He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has the LORD spoken?” ¹⁸He took up his oracle and said: "Rise up, Balak, and hear; listen to me, son of Zippor: ¹⁹God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? ²⁰Behold, I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. ²¹He has not observed misfortune in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of a King is among them. ²²God brings them out of Egypt; he has as it were the strength of a wild ox. ²³For there is no magic against Jacob, and no divination against Israel. Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, 'What has God done!' ²⁴Behold, a people rising up like a lioness, and lifting itself up like a lion; it shall not lie down until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain." ²⁵Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!” ²⁶But Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, 'All that the LORD speaks, that I must do'?” ²⁷Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will be right in the eyes of God that you curse them for me from there.” ²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which looks down over the wasteland. ²⁹Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ³⁰Balak did as Balaam had said, and he offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

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4/11/2026

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