Balaam’s Oracles
1Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”23:1 1Ch 15:26; 2Ch 29:21; Jb 42:8; Ezk 45:23
2So Balak did as Balaam directed, and they offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
3Balaam 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.
4God met with him and Balaam said to him, “I have arranged seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.”
5Then the Lord put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and say what I tell you.”
6So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with all the officials of Moab.
Balaam’s First Oracle
7Balaam proclaimed his poem:
Balak brought me from Aram;23:7 Dt 23:4
the king of Moab, from the eastern mountains:
“Come, put a curse on Jacob for me;
8How can I curse someone God has not cursed?
How can I denounce someone the Lord has not denounced?
9I see them from the top of rocky cliffs,
and I watch them from the hills.
There is a people living alone;23:9 Dt 33:28
it does not consider itself among the nations.
or numbered even one-fourth of Israel?
Let me die the death of the upright;
let the end of my life be like theirs.
11“What have you done to me?” Balak asked Balaam. “I brought you to curse my enemies, but look, you have only blessed them!”
Balaam’s Second Oracle
15Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here by your burnt offering while I seek the Lord over there.”
16The Lord met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth. Then he said, “Return to Balak and say what I tell you.”
17So 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?”
18Balaam proclaimed his poem:
Balak, get up and listen;
son of Zippor, pay attention to what I say!
19God is not a man, that he might lie,
or a son of man, that he might change his mind.23:19 1Sm 15:29; Mal 3:6; Ti 1:2; Heb 6:17–18
Does he speak and not act,
or promise and not fulfill?23:19 Ps 33:10–11; Pr 19:21; Is 14:24; 31:2; 45:23; 46:9–11; 48:3; 55:11; Rm 11:29; Eph 1:11; 2Tm 2:13
20I have indeed received a command to bless;
since he has blessed,23:20 Sam, LXX read since I will bless I cannot change it.
21He considers no disaster for Jacob;
he sees no trouble for Israel.23:21 Or He does not observe sin in Jacob; he does not see wrongdoing in Israel
The Lord their God is with them,23:21 Gn 28:15; Nm 14:9; Dt 2:7; 20:1; Jos 1:17; Jdg 6:13; 2Ch 20:17; Ps 46:11; Is 8:10; 41:10; Jr 1:19; 15:20; Zph 3:17; Hg 2:4; Rv 21:3
and there is rejoicing over the King among them.
22God brought them out of Egypt;
he is like the horns of a wild ox for them.23:22 Or Egypt; they have the horns of a wild ox23:22 Nm 24:8
23There 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!”
24A people rise up like a lioness;
they rouse themselves like a lion.23:24 Nm 24:9
They will not lie down until they devour the prey
and drink the blood of the slain.
25Then Balak told Balaam, “Don’t curse them and don’t bless them!”
Balaam’s Third Oracle
27Again 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.”
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