Numbers 23

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Balaam said to Balak, 'Build me seven altars here and prepare me seven bulls and seven rams.'	1 Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build me seven altars, and prepare seven bullocks and seven rams for me here."
2 Balak did as Balaam said and offered a burnt offering of one bul and one ram on each altar.	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."
3 Balaam then said to Balak, 'Stand beside your burnt offerings while I go away. Perhaps Yahweh wilcome and meet me. If he does, I shal tel you whatever he reveals to me.' And he withdrew to a bare hil .	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,
4 God came to meet Balaam, who said to him, 'I have prepared the seven altars and offered a burntoffering of one bul and one ram on each altar.'	4 and God met him.
5 Yahweh then put a prophecy into his mouth and said to him, 'Go back to Balak, and that is what youmust say to him.'	5 When he had put an utterance in Balaam's mouth, the LORD said to him, "Go back to Balak, and speak accordingly."
6 So Balaam went back to him, and found him stil standing beside his burnt offering, with all the chiefsof Moab.	6 So he went back to Balak, who was still standing by his holocaust together with all the princes of Moab.
7 He then declaimed his poem as fol ows: Balak has brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from thehil s of Kedem: 'Come and curse Jacob for me, come and denounce Israel!'	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."
8 How shal I curse someone whom God has not cursed, how denounce someone God has notdenounced?	8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?
9 Yes, from the top of the crags I see him, from the hills I descry him: a people that dwel s on its own,not to be reckoned among other nations!	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.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob? Who can number the cloud of Israel? May I die the death of thejust, and may my future be like theirs!	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!
11 Balak said to Balaam, 'What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, and youhave heaped blessings on them!'	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."
12 Balaam replied, 'Am I to depart from what Yahweh puts into my mouth?'	12 Balaam replied, "Is it not what the LORD puts in my mouth that I must repeat with care?"
13 Balak then said, 'Please come somewhere else. From here you can see only the fringe of them, youcannot see them al . Curse them for me over there.'	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."
14 He led him to the Lookouts' Field on the top of Pisgah. There he built seven altars and offered aburnt offering of one bul and one ram on each altar.	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.
15 Balaam said to Balak, 'Stand here beside your burnt offerings while I wait over there.'	15 Balaam then said to Balak, "Stand here by your holocaust, while I seek a meeting over there."
16 God came to meet Balaam, he put a prophecy into his mouth and said to him, 'Go back to Balak,and that is what you must say to 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."
17 So Balaam went to him and found him stil standing beside his burnt offering and all the chiefs ofMoab with him. 'What did Yahweh say?' Balak said 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?"
18 Balaam then declaimed his poem, as fol ows: Stand up, Balak, and listen, give ear to me, son ofZippor.	18 Balaam gave voice to his oracle: Be aroused, O Balak, and hearken; give ear to my testimony, O son of Zippor!
19 God is no human being that he should lie, no child of Adam to change his mind. Is it his to say andnot to do, is it his to speak and not fulfil?	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?
20 The charge laid on me is to bless, I shal bless, and I cannot reverse it.	20 It is a blessing I have been given to pronounce; a blessing which I cannot restrain.
21 I have perceived no guilt in Jacob, have seen no perversity in Israel. Yahweh his God is with him,and a royal acclamation to greet him.	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.
22 God has brought him out of Egypt, is like the wild ox's horns to him.	22 It is God who brought him out of Egypt, a wild bull of towering might.
23 There is no omen whatever against Jacob, no augury at al against Israel. Wel may people say ofJacob, of Israel, 'What has God achieved?'	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!"
24 for here is a people like a lioness rising, poised like a lion to spring; nor wil he lie down till he hasdevoured his prey and drunk the blood of his slain.	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.
25 Balak said to Balaam, 'Very wel ! Do not curse them. But at least do not bless them!'	25 "Even though you cannot curse them," said Balak to Balaam, "at least do not bless them."
26 Balaam retorted to Balak, 'Did I not tel you? Whatever Yahweh says, I must do.'	26 But Balaam answered Balak, "Did I not warn you that I must do all that the LORD tells me?"
27 Balak then said to Balaam, 'Come with me now and I shal take you somewhere else. From thereperhaps it wil please God to curse them for me.'	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."
28 So Balak led Balaam to the summit of Peor, overlooking the wastelands.	28 So he took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks Jeshimon.
29 Balaam then said to Balak, 'Build me seven altars here and prepare me seven bul s and sevenrams.'	29 Balaam then said to him, "Here build me seven altars; and here prepare for me seven bullocks and seven rams."
30 Balak did as Balaam said and offered a burnt offering of one bull and one ram on each altar.	30 And Balak did as Balaam had ordered, offering a bullock and a ram on each altar.