1Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars here for me and prepare seven bulls and seven rams.”

2So Balak did as Balaam requested. Then Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on every altar.

3Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand at your burnt offering and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” So he went away to a hilltop with no trees.

4While he was on the hilltop, God met him, and Balaam said to him, “I have built seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each one.”

5Yahweh put a message in Balaam's mouth and said, “Return to Balak and speak to him.”

6So Balaam returned to Balak, who was standing by his burnt offering, and all the leaders of Moab were with him.

7Then Balaam began to speak his prophecy and said, “Balak has brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. 'Come, curse Jacob for me,' he said. 'Come, defy Israel.'

8How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I oppose those whom Yahweh does not oppose?

9For from the top of the rocks I see him; from the hills I look at him. See, there is a people who live alone and do not consider themselves as just an ordinary nation.

10Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even only one-fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of a righteous person, and let my life's end be like his!”

11Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but look, you have blessed them.”

12Balaam answered and said, “Should I not be careful to say only what Yahweh puts in my mouth?”

13So Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the nearest of them, not all of them. There you will curse them for me.”

14So he took Balaam into the field of Zophim, to the top of Mount Pisgah, and built seven more altars. He offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

15Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet with Yahweh over there.”

16So Yahweh met Balaam and put a message in his mouth. He said, “Return to Balak and give him my message.”

17Balaam returned to him, and look, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab were with him. Then Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh said?”

18Balaam began his prophecy. He said, “Rise up, Balak, and hear. Listen to me, you son of Zippor.

19God is not a man, that he should lie, Or a human being, that he should change his mind. Has he promised anything without doing it? Has he said he would do something without carrying it out?

20Look, I have been commanded to bless.
God has given a blessing, and I cannot reverse it.

21He has seen no hardship in Jacob or trouble in Israel. Yahweh their God is with them, and shouts for their king are among them.

22God brought them out of Egypt
with strength like that of a wild ox.

23There is no sorcery that works against Jacob, and no fortune-telling harms Israel. Instead, it must be said about Jacob and Israel, 'Look what God has done!'

24Look, the people rise like a lioness, as a lion emerges and attacks. He does not lie down until he eats his victim and drinks the blood of what he has killed.”

25Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them or bless them at all.”

26But Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you that I must say all that Yahweh tells me to say?”

27So Balak replied to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God for you to curse them there for me.”

28So Balak took Balaam to the top of Mount Peor, which looks down on the wilderness.

29Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams.”

30So Balak did as Balaam had said; he offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.