JPS - Numbers - 23

23:1  And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.'

23:2  And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.

23:3  And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go; peradventure HaShem will come to meet me; and whatsoever He showeth me I will tell thee.' And he went to a bare height.

23:4  And G-d met Balaam; and he said unto Him: 'I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.'

23:5  And HaShem put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said: 'Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.'

23:6  And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.

23:7  And he took up his parable, and said: From Aram Balak bringeth me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East: 'Come, curse me Jacob, and come, execrate Israel.'

23:8  How shall I curse, whom G-d hath not cursed? And how shall I execrate, whom HaShem hath not execrated?

23:9  For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

23:10  Who hath counted the dust of Jacob, or numbered the stock of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let mine end be like his!

23:11  And Balak said unto Balaam: 'What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.'

23:12  And he answered and said: 'Must I not take heed to speak that which HaShem putteth in my mouth?'

23:13  And Balak said unto him: 'Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all; and curse me them from thence.'

23:14  And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.

23:15  And he said unto Balak: 'Stand here by thy burnt-offering, while I go toward a meeting yonder.'

23:16  And HaShem met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said: 'Return unto Balak, and thus shalt thou speak.'

23:17  And he came to him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him: 'What hath HaShem spoken?'

23:18  And he took up his parable, and said: Arise, Balak, and hear; give ear unto me, thou son of Zippor:

23:19  G-d is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: when He hath said, will He not do it? or when He hath spoken, will He not make it good?

23:20  Behold, I am bidden to bless; and when He hath blessed, I cannot call it back.

23:21  None hath beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath one seen perverseness in Israel; HaShem his G-d is with him, and the shouting for the King is among them.

23:22  G-d who brought them forth out of Egypt is for them like the lofty horns of the wild-ox.

23:23  For there is no enchantment with Jacob, neither is there any divination with Israel; now is it said of Jacob and of Israel: 'What hath G-d wrought!'

23:24  Behold a people that riseth up as a lioness, and as a lion doth he lift himself up; he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

23:25  And Balak said unto Balaam: 'Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.'

23:26  But Balaam answered and said unto Balak: 'Told not I thee, saying: All that HaShem speaketh, that I must do?'

23:27  And Balak said unto Balaam: 'Come now, I will take thee unto another place; peradventure it will please G-d that thou mayest curse me them from thence.'

23:28  And Balak took Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh down upon the desert.

23:29  And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.'

23:30  And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.