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          DASV: Numbers 23    

1 Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build me seven altars here,
and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for sacrifice."
2 So Balak did as Balaam instructed and Balak and Balaam offered
on each altar a bull and a ram.
3 Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stand by your burnt offering,
and I will go, perhaps the LORD will come to meet me.
Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you." Then he went
to a barren hill top.
4 God met Balaam and Balaam said to him, "I have prepared
the seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on
each altar."
5 The LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said,
"Return to Balak, and this is what you are to say."
6 So he returned to him, and found him standing by
his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.
7 Then Balaam uttered his oracle, saying,
      "Balak brought me from Aram,
      the king of Moab from the mountains of the east,
      'Come, curse Jacob.
         Come denounce Israel.'
8       How can I curse one whom God has not cursed?
         How can I denounce one whom the LORD has not denounced?
9       For from the rocky cliffs I see him,
         and from the hills I observe him,
           it is a people that live alone,
      and do not considered themselves one of the nations.
10          Who can count the dust of Jacob?
           Who can number even a fourth of Israel?
      Let me die the death of the upright,
           and let my last end be like his!"v
11 Then Balak objected to Balaam, "What have you done to me?
I brought you here to curse my enemies, but instead you have
done nothing but bless them."
12 He answered, "Must I not be careful to speak only what
the LORD puts in my mouth?"

13 Then Balak said to him, "Come with me to another place,
from there you may see them. You will see only a part of them,
and will not see them all. Curse them for me from there."
14 So he brought him to the field of Zophim, on the top of Pisgah.
There he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on
each altar.
15 Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stay 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, "Return to Balak, and this is what you will say."
17 So he came back to him, and he was still standing by his
burnt offering, along with the princes of Moab. Then Balak
asked him, "What did the LORD say?"
18 Balaam uttered his oracle, saying,
"Rise up, Balak, and listen;
hear me, O son of Zippor,
19 God is not a man, that he should lie,
or a son of man that he should change his mind.
Has he ever spoken and failed to do it?
Has he promised and not fulfilled it?
20 Look, I have received a command to bless,
and he has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
21 He has not seen any misfortune in Jacob;
nor has he seen trouble for Israel.
The LORD his God is with him,
and he has been proclaimed king among them.
22 God brought them out of Egypt;
he is for them like the horns of a wild ox.
23 Surely there is no curse against Jacob;
neither is there any sorcery effective against Israel.
Now it will be said of Jacob and of Israel,
'O what God has done!'
24 Look, the people rise up like a lioness,
like a lion that rouses itself.
It will not lie down until it devours its prey,
and drinks the blood of the slain."
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, "Then do not curse
or bless them at all."
26 But Balaam answered and said to Balak, "Did I not
tell you, 'All that the LORD speaks, I must do?'"
27 So Balak said to Balaam, "Come on, I will take you
to another place; perhaps it will please God that you
may curse them from there."
28 Then Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looked
down on the wasteland.
29 Balaam said to Balak, "Build here seven altars for me,
and prepare for sacrifice seven bulls and seven rams for me."
30 So Balak did as Balaam had directed, and offered up a bull
and a ram on each altar.

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