Numbers 23

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Balaam said to Balak, 'Build me seven altars here and prepare me seven bulls and seven rams.'	1 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars here for me, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.”
2 Balak did as Balaam said and offered a burnt offering of one bul and one ram on each altar.	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 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 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 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 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 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 Then the Lord placed the word in his mouth, and he said: “Return to Balak, and you shall say this.”
6 So Balaam went back to him, and found him stil standing beside his burnt offering, with all the chiefsof Moab.	6 Returning, he found Balak standing next to his holocaust, with all the leaders of the Moabites.
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 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 shal I curse someone whom God has not cursed, how denounce someone God has notdenounced?	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 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 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 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 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 Balak said to Balaam, 'What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, and youhave heaped blessings on 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, 'Am I to depart from what Yahweh puts into my mouth?'	12 He answered him, “How can I say anything other than what the Lord orders?”
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 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 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 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 said to Balak, 'Stand here beside your burnt offerings while I wait over there.'	15 he said to Balak, “Stand here next to your holocaust, while I continue on to meet him.”
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 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 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 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 then declaimed his poem, as fol ows: Stand up, Balak, and listen, give ear to me, son ofZippor.	18 But, taking up his parable, he said: “Stand, Balak, and pay attention. Listen, you 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 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 The charge laid on me is to bless, I shal bless, and I cannot reverse it.	20 I was led here to bless, and I have no strength to hinder the blessing.
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 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 God has brought him out of Egypt, is like the wild ox's horns to him.	22 God has led him away from Egypt; his strength is like that of the rhinoceros.
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 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 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 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 Balak said to Balaam, 'Very wel ! Do not curse them. But at least do not bless them!'	25 And Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse him, nor bless him.”
26 Balaam retorted to Balak, 'Did I not tel you? Whatever Yahweh says, I must do.'	26 And he said, “Have I not told you that whatever God would command of me, I would do?”
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 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 Balak led Balaam to the summit of Peor, overlooking the wastelands.	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 Balak, 'Build me seven altars here and prepare me seven bul s and sevenrams.'	29 Balaam said to him, “Build seven altars here for me, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.”
30 Balak did as Balaam said and offered a burnt offering of one bull and one ram on each altar.	30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and he placed on each altar a calf and a ram.