# Numbers 23 (New King James Version) The Prophecies of Balaam ##### Chapter 23 ###### 1 Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams." ###### 2 And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on _each_ altar. ###### 3 Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you." So he went to a desolate height. ###### 4 And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, "I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on _each_ altar a bull and a ram." ###### 5 Then the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak." ###### 6 So he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab. ###### 7 And he took up his oracle and said: "Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, From the mountains of the east. 'Come, curse Jacob for me, And come, denounce Israel!' ###### 8 "How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce _whom_ the Lord has not denounced? ###### 9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, And from the hills I behold him; There! A people dwelling alone, Not reckoning itself among the nations. ###### 10 "Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number one-fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, And let my end be like his!" ###### 11 Then Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed _them_ bountifully!" ###### 12 So he answered and said, "Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?"Balaam's Second Prophecy ###### 13 Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only the outer part of them, and shall not see them all; curse them for me from there." ###### 14 So he brought 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 And he said to Balak, "Stand here by your burnt offering while I meet _the Lord_ over there." ###### 16 Then the Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, "Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak." ###### 17 So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, "What has the Lord spoken?" ###### 18 Then he took up his oracle and said: "Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor! ###### 19 "God _is_ not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? ###### 20 Behold, I have received _a command_ to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. ###### 21 "He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God _is_ with him, And the shout of a King _is_ among them. ###### 22 God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox. ###### 23 "For _there is_ no sorcery against Jacob, Nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob And of Israel, 'Oh, what God has done!' ###### 24 Look, a people rises like a lioness, And lifts itself up like a lion; It shall not lie down until it devours the prey, And drinks the blood of the slain." ###### 25 Then Balak said to Balaam, "Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!" ###### 26 So Balaam answered and said to Balak, "Did I not tell you, saying, 'All that the Lord speaks, that I must do'?"Balaam's Third Prophecy ###### 27 Then Balak said to Balaam, "Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there." ###### 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks the wasteland. ###### 29 Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams." ###### 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on _every_ altar.