Numbers 23:13-26 - Balaam's Second Oracle

¹³ Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the outskirts of their camp; you won’t see all of them. From there, put a curse on them for me.” ¹⁴ So Balak took him to Lookout Field on top of Pisgah, built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵ Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here by your burnt offering while I seek the Lord over there.”

¹⁶ The Lord met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth. Then He said, “Return to Balak and say what I tell you.”

¹⁷ So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the officials of Moab. Balak asked him, “What did the Lord say?”

¹⁸ Balaam proclaimed his poem:

Balak, get up and listen;
son of Zippor, pay attention to what I say!
¹⁹ God is not a man who lies,
or a son of man who changes His mind.
Does He speak and not act,
or promise and not fulfill?
²⁰ I have indeed received a command to bless;
since He has blessed, I cannot change it.
²¹ He considers no disaster for Jacob;
He sees no trouble for Israel.
The Lord their God is with them,
and there is rejoicing over the King among them.
²² God brought them out of Egypt;
He is like the horns of a wild ox for them.
²³ There is no magic curse against Jacob
and no divination against Israel.
It will now be said about Jacob and Israel,
“What great things God has done!”
²⁴ A people rise up like a lioness;
They rouse themselves like a lion.
They will not lie down until they devour the prey
and drink the blood of the slain.

²⁵ Then Balak told Balaam, “Don’t curse them and don’t bless them!”

²⁶ But Balaam answered him, “Didn’t I tell you: Whatever the Lord says, I must do?”