7. And Balaam took up his discourse and said,“From Aram Balak has brought me,the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:‘Come, curse Jacob for me,and come, denounce Israel!’
8. How can I curse whom God has not cursed?How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
9. For from the top of the crags I see him,from the hills I behold him;behold, a people dwelling alone,and not counting itself among the nations!
10. Who can count the dust of Jacobor number the fourth part of Israel?Let me die the death of the upright,and let my end be like his!”
11. And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.”
12. And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”
13. And Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there.”
14. And he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
15. Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord over there.”
16. And the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.”
17. And he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”
18. And Balaam took up his discourse and said,“Rise, Balak, and hear;give ear to me, O son of Zippor:
19. God is not man, that he should lie,or a son of man, that he should change his mind.Has he said, and will he not do it?Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
20. Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
21. He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob,nor has he seen trouble in Israel.The Lord their God is with them,and the shout of a king is among them.