Numbers 23
Berean Standard BibleTranslation
Berean Standard Bible
JPS Tanakh (Jewish Publication Society, 1917)
1Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”
1And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.'
2So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
2And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.
3“Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone,” Balaam said to Balak. “Perhaps the LORD will meet with me. And whatever He reveals to me, I will tell you.” So Balaam went off to a barren height,
3And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go; peradventure the LORD will come to meet me; and whatsoever He showeth me I will tell thee.' And he went to a bare height.
4and God met with him. “I have set up seven altars,” Balaam said, “and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”
4And God met Balaam; and he said unto Him: 'I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.'
5Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and give him this message.”
5And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said: 'Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.'
6So he returned to Balak, who was standing there beside his burnt offering, with all the princes of Moab.
6And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.
7And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!’
7And 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 Jacob, and come, execrate Israel.'
8How can I curse what God has not cursed? How can I denounce what the LORD has not denounced?
8How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? And how shall I execrate, whom the LORD hath not execrated?
9For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. Behold, a people dwelling apart, not reckoning themselves among the nations.
9For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.
10Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous; let my end be like theirs!”
10Who hath counted the dust of Jacob, or numbered the stock of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let mine end be like his!
11Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and behold, you have only blessed them!”
11And Balak said unto Balaam: 'What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.'
12But Balaam replied, “Should I not speak exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth?”
12And he answered and said: 'Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD putteth in my mouth?'
13Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the outskirts of their camp—not all of them. And from there, curse them for me.”
13And 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.'
14So Balak took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
14And 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.
15Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I meet the LORD over there.”
15And he said unto Balak: 'Stand here by thy burnt-offering, while I go toward a meeting yonder.'
16And the LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak what I tell you.”
16And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said: 'Return unto Balak, and thus shalt thou speak.'
17So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the princes of Moab. “What did the LORD say?” Balak asked.
17And 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 the LORD spoken?'
18Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Arise, O Balak, and listen; give ear to me, O son of Zippor.
18And he took up his parable, and said: Arise, Balak, and hear; give ear unto me, thou son of Zippor:
19God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
19God 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?
20I have indeed received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it.
20Behold, I am bidden to bless; and when He hath blessed, I cannot call it back.
21He considers no disaster for Jacob; He sees no trouble for Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of the King is among them.
21None hath beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath one seen perverseness in Israel; the LORD his God is with him, and the shouting for the King is among them.
22God brought them out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox.
22God who brought them forth out of Egypt is for them like the lofty horns of the wild-ox.
23For there is no spell against Jacob and no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What great things God has done!’
23For there is no enchantment with Jacob, neither is there any divination with Israel; now is it said of Jacob and of Israel: 'What hath God wrought!'
24Behold, the people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion, not resting until they devour their prey and drink the blood of the slain.”
24Behold 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.
25Now Balak said to Balaam, “Then neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”
25And Balak said unto Balaam: 'Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.'
26But Balaam replied, “Did I not tell you that whatever the LORD says, I must do?”
26But Balaam answered and said unto Balak: 'Told not I thee, saying: All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?'
27“Please come,” said Balak, “I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there.”
27And Balak said unto Balaam: 'Come now, I will take thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.'
28And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.
28And Balak took Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh down upon the desert.
29Then Balaam said, “Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”
29And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.'
30So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
30And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.
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