Numbers 23:1-30

Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”  So Balak did as Balaam directed, and they offered a bull and a ram on each altar. Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone. Maybe the LORD will meet with me. I will tell you whatever he reveals to me.” So he went to a barren hill. God met with him and Balaam said to him, “I have arranged seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.” Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and say what I tell you.” So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with all the officials of Moab. Balaam proclaimed his poem: Balak brought me from Aram;  the king of Moab, from the eastern mountains: “Come, put a curse on Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel! ”  How can I curse someone God has not cursed? How can I denounce someone the  LORD has not denounced? I see them from the top of rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. There is a people living alone;  it does not consider itself among the nations. Who has counted the dust of Jacob  or numbered even one-fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright; let the end of my life be like theirs. “What have you done to me? ” Balak asked Balaam. “I brought you to curse my enemies, but look, you have only blessed them! ” He answered, “Shouldn’t I say exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth? ”  Then 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; you won’t see all of them. From there, put a curse on them for me.” So Balak took him to Lookout Field  on top of Pisgah,  built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here by your burnt offering while I seek the LORD over there.” The LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth. Then he said, “Return to Balak and say what I tell you.” So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the officials of Moab. Balak asked him, “What did the LORD say? ” Balaam proclaimed his poem: Balak, get up and listen; son of Zippor, pay attention to what I say! God is not a man, that he might lie, or a son of man, that he might change his mind.  Does he speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?  I have indeed received a command to bless; since he has blessed,  I cannot change it. He considers no disaster for Jacob; he sees no trouble for Israel.  The LORD their God is with them,  and there is rejoicing over the King among them. God brought them out of Egypt; he is like the horns of a wild ox for them.  , There is no magic curse against Jacob and no divination against Israel. It will now be said about Jacob and Israel, “What great things God has done! ” A people rise up like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion.  They will not lie down until they devour the prey and drink the blood of the slain. Then Balak told Balaam, “Don’t curse them and don’t bless them! ” But Balaam answered him, “Didn’t I tell you: Whatever the LORD says, I must do? ”  Again Balak said to Balaam, “Please come. I will take you to another place. Maybe it will be agreeable to God that you can put a curse on them for me there.” So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.  , Balaam told Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”  So Balak did as Balaam said and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.