Numbers 23

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build me seven altars, and prepare seven bullocks and seven rams for me here."	1 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars here for me, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.”
2 So he did as Balaam had ordered, offering a bullock and a ram on each altar. And Balak said to him, "I have erected the seven altars, and have offered a bullock and a ram on each."	2 And when he had acted according to the words of Balaam, they placed a calf and a ram together on each altar.
3 Balaam then said to him, "Stand here by your holocaust while I go over there. Perhaps the LORD will meet me, and then I will tell you whatever he lets me see." He went out on the barren height,	3 And Balaam said to Balak: “Stand for a little while next to your holocaust, until I go, to see if perhaps the Lord will meet with me. And whatever he will command, I shall speak to you.”
4 and God met him.	4 And after he had quickly departed, God met with him. And Balaam, speaking to him, said: “I have set up seven altars, and I have placed a calf and a ram on each.”
5 When he had put an utterance in Balaam's mouth, the LORD said to him, "Go back to Balak, and speak accordingly."	5 Then the Lord placed the word in his mouth, and he said: “Return to Balak, and you shall say this.”
6 So he went back to Balak, who was still standing by his holocaust together with all the princes of Moab.	6 Returning, he found Balak standing next to his holocaust, with all the leaders of the Moabites.
7 Then Balaam gave voice to his oracle: From Aram has Balak brought me here, Moab's king, from the Eastern Mountains: "Come and lay a curse for me on Jacob, come and denounce Israel."	7 And taking up his parable, he said: “Balak, king of the Moabites, has led me from Aram, from the mountains of the east. ‘Come forth,’ he said, ‘and curse Jacob. Hurry and condemn Israel.’
8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?	8 How shall I curse him, whom God has not cursed? For what reason would I condemn him, whom the Lord does not condemn?
9 For from the top of the crags I see him, from the heights I behold him. Here is a people that lives apart and does not reckon itself among the nations.	9 I will look upon him from the tops of the stones, and I will consider him from the hills. This people shall dwell alone, and they shall not be counted among the nations.
10 Who has ever counted the dust of Jacob, or numbered Israel's wind-borne particles? May I die the death of the just, may my descendants be as many as theirs!	10 Who can number the dust that is Jacob, and who can know the number of the stock of Israel? May my soul die a just death, and may my end be like theirs.”
11 "What have you done to me?" cried Balak to Balaam. "It was to curse my foes that I brought you here; instead, you have even blessed them."	11 And Balak said to Balaam: “What is this that you are doing? I called for you, in order to curse my enemies, and to the contrary, you bless them.”
12 Balaam replied, "Is it not what the LORD puts in my mouth that I must repeat with care?"	12 He answered him, “How can I say anything other than what the Lord orders?”
13 Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from which you can see only some and not all of them, and from there curse them for me."	13 Therefore, Balak said: “Come with me to another place, from where you may see a portion of Israel, though you cannot see them all. Curse them from there.”
14 So he brought him to the lookout field on the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bullock and a ram on each of them.	14 And when he had led him to a lofty place, on the top of mount Pisgah, Balaam built seven altars, and placing upon each a calf and a ram,
15 Balaam then said to Balak, "Stand here by your holocaust, while I seek a meeting over there."	15 he said to Balak, “Stand here next to your holocaust, while I continue on to meet him.”
16 Then the LORD met Balaam, and having put an utterance in his mouth, he said to him, "Go back to Balak, and speak accordingly."	16 And when the Lord had met him, and had put the word in his mouth, he said, “Return to Balak, and you shall say this to him.”
17 So he went back to Balak, who was still standing by his holocaust together with the princes of Moab. When Balak asked him, "What did the LORD say?"	17 Returning, he found him standing next to his holocaust, and the leaders of the Moabites were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”
18 Balaam gave voice to his oracle: Be aroused, O Balak, and hearken; give ear to my testimony, O son of Zippor!	18 But, taking up his parable, he said: “Stand, Balak, and pay attention. Listen, you son of Zippor.
19 God is not man that he should speak falsely, nor human, that he should change his mind. Is he one to speak and not act, to decree and not fulfill?	19 God is not like a man, so that he would lie, nor is he like a son of man, so that he would be changed. Therefore, having spoken, will he not act? Has he ever spoken, and not fulfilled?
20 It is a blessing I have been given to pronounce; a blessing which I cannot restrain.	20 I was led here to bless, and I have no strength to hinder the blessing.
21 Misfortune is not observed in Jacob, nor misery seen in Israel. The LORD, his God, is with him; with him is the triumph of his King.	21 There is no idol in Jacob; neither is there a false image to be seen in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the resound of royal victory is in him.
22 It is God who brought him out of Egypt, a wild bull of towering might.	22 God has led him away from Egypt; his strength is like that of the rhinoceros.
23 No, there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor omen against Israel. It shall yet be said of Jacob, and of Israel, "Behold what God has wrought!"	23 There is no soothsaying in Jacob, nor any divination in Israel. In their times, it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God has wrought.
24 Here is a people that springs up like a lioness, and stalks forth like a lion; It rests not till it has devoured its prey and has drunk the blood of the slain.	24 Behold, the people will rise up like a lioness, and lie down like a lion. But they will not lie down until they devour the prey and drink the blood of the slain.”
25 "Even though you cannot curse them," said Balak to Balaam, "at least do not bless them."	25 And Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse him, nor bless him.”
26 But Balaam answered Balak, "Did I not warn you that I must do all that the LORD tells me?"	26 And he said, “Have I not told you that whatever God would command of me, I would do?”
27 Then Balak said to Balaam, "Come, let me bring you to another place; perhaps God will approve of your cursing them for me from there."	27 And Balak said to him: “Come and I will lead you to another place. If perhaps it may please God, then you may curse them from there.”
28 So he took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks Jeshimon.	28 And when he had led him on to the top of mount Peor, which looks out toward the wilderness,
29 Balaam then said to him, "Here build me seven altars; and here prepare for me seven bullocks and seven rams."	29 Balaam said to him, “Build seven altars here for me, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.”
30 And Balak did as Balaam had ordered, offering a bullock and a ram on each altar.	30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and he placed on each altar a calf and a ram.