Numbers 23:6-23

CLV(i) 6 So he returned to him and behold, he and all the chiefs of Moab were stationed at his ascent offering. 7 He took up his discourse and said:From Syria Balak gave me guidance, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east:Come now and curse Jacob for me! And come now and menace Israel. 8 How should I revile when El has not reviled him? How should I menace when Yahweh has not menaced? 9 For from the summit of the rocks I am seeing him, and from the hills I am regarding him. Behold, the people is tabernacling by itself alone, and among the nations it is not reckoning itself. 10 Who counts the soil-drift of Jacob? And who numbers the dust cloud of Israel? May my soul die the death of the upright, and may my hereafter be just as his!" 11 Then Balak said to Balaam:What have you done to me? To revile my enemies I took you, yet behold, you bless, yea bless them!" 12 Yet he answered and said:What Yahweh places in my mouth, is it not it that I should observe to speak? 13 Balak said to him:Go, I pray, with me to another place from where you may see it. Only its outmost part shall you see; all of it you shall not see. Revile it for me from there. 14 So he took him to the field of the Watchmen, to the summit of the Pisgah ridge. He built seven altars and offered up a young bull and a ram on each altar. 15 Then he said to Balak:Station yourself thus at your ascent offering while I meet Him thus. 16 Yahweh met with Balaam and placed the word in his mouth and said:Return to Balak and thus shall you speak. 17 So he came to him, and behold, he was stationed at his ascent offering, and the chiefs of Moab with him. Balak said to him:What has Yahweh spoken? 18 He took up his discourse and said:Arise, Balak, and hear! Give ear unto me, son of Zippor!" 19 El is not a man that He should lie. Nor a son of humanity that He should feel regret. Does He say it and then not do it? Or speak and then not carry it out? 20 Behold, I undertake to bless; He blesses and I shall not reverse it. 21 He does not look for sorrow in Jacob, nor does He see toil in Israel. Yahweh their Elohim is with him, and the shout of their king is with him. 22 El, Who brought them forth from Egypt, was to him like a wild bull's cornuted strength. 23 For there is no augury against Jacob nor divination against Israel; at the right time it is spoken to Jacob and to Israel:What has El contrived!