Numbers 23:7-12 - Balaam's First Oracle

⁷ Balaam proclaimed his poem:

Balak brought me from Aram;
the king of Moab, from the eastern mountains:
“Come, put a curse on Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel!”
⁸ How can I curse someone God has not cursed?
How can I denounce someone the Lord has not denounced?
⁹ I see them from the top of rocky cliffs,
and I watch them from the hills.
There is a people living alone;
it does not consider itself among the nations.
¹⁰ Who has counted the dust of Jacob
or numbered the dust clouds of Israel?
Let me die the death of the upright;
let the end of my life be like theirs.

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

¹² He answered, “Shouldn’t I say exactly what the Lord puts in my mouth?”