1 And Balaam said to Balak, Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bullocks and seven rams.
2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.
3 And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by your burnt-offering, and I will go: perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me; and whatever he shows me I will tell you. And he went to a bare height.
4 And God met Balaam: and he said to him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.
5 And Yahweh put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus you will speak.
6 And he returned to him, and, look, he was standing by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.
7 And he took up his parable, and said, From Aram has Balak brought me, The king of Moab from the mountains of the East: Come, curse Jacob for me, And come, defy Israel.
8 How shall I curse, whom God has not cursed? And how shall I defy, whom Yahweh has not defied?
9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, And from the hills I see him: look, it is a people who stays alone, And will not be reckoned among the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, And let my last end be like his!
11 And Balak said to Balaam, What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and, look, you have blessed them altogether.
12 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?
13 And Balak said to him, Come, I pray you, with me to another place, from where you may see them; you will see but the utmost part of them, and will not see them all: and curse them for me from there.
14 And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.
15 And he said to Balak, Stand here by your burnt-offering, while I meet [Yahweh] yonder.
16 And Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus you will speak.
17 And he came to him, and saw that he was standing by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, What has Yahweh spoken?
18 And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; Listen to me, you son of Zippor:
19 God is not a man, that he should lie, Neither a son of man, that he should repent: Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?
20 Look, I have received [commandment] to bless: And he has blessed, and I can't reverse it.
21 He has not seen iniquity in Jacob; Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel: Yahweh his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them.
22 God brings them forth out of Egypt; He has as it were the strength of the wild-ox.
23 Surely there is no magic against Jacob; Neither is there any fortune-telling against Israel: Now it will be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God wrought!
24 Look, a people rises up as a lioness, And as a lion does he lift himself up: He will not lie down until he eats of the prey, And drinks the blood of the slain.
25 And Balak said to Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.
26 But Balaam answered and said to Balak, Didn't I tell you, saying, All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do?
27 And Balak said to Balaam, Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.
28 And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert.
29 And Balaam said to Balak, Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bullocks and seven rams.
30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.