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¹ And Balaam said vnto Balac: Buylde me here seuen aulters, & prepare me here seuen oxen & seuen rammes.² And Balac dyd as Balaam sayde: And Balac and Balaam offred on euery aulter an oxe and a ramme.³ And Balaam said vnto Balac: Stand by thy sacrifice, and I will go, if happly the Lorde will meete me: and whatsoeuer he sheweth me, I wyll tell thee. And he went vp hyer.⁴ But God met Balaam, & [Balaam] sayd vnto hym: I haue prepared seuen aulters, and haue offred vpon euery aulter an oxe and a ramme.⁵ And the Lorde put a saying in Balaams mouth, and sayde: Go agayne to Balac, and say on this wyse.⁶ And when he went agayne vnto him, lo, he stoode by his burnt sacrifice, he and all the lordes of Moab.⁷ And he toke vp his parable, and sayd: Balac the king of Moab hath brought me fro Mesopotamia, out of the mountaynes of the east, [saying] Come, curse Iacob for my sake, come and defie Israel.⁸ Howe shall I curse hym, whom God hath not cursed? or howe shall I defie hym, whom God hath not defied?⁹ For from the toppe of the rockes I see hym, and from the hylles I beholde hym: lo, the people shall dwell by them selues, and shal not be reckened among the nations.¹⁰ Who can tell the dust of Iacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? I pray God that my soule may dye the death of the righteous, and that my last ende may be like his.¹¹ And Balac sayd vnto Balaam: What hast thou done vnto me? I toke thee to curse myne enemies, and beholde thou hast blessed them altogether.¹² He aunswered and sayd: Must I not take heede to speake that whiche the lorde hath put in my mouth?

¹³ And Balac sayde vnto hym: Come I pray thee with me vnto another place, whence thou mayest see them, and thou shalt see but the vtmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: curse them out of that place for my sake.¹⁴ And he brought hym into a fielde, where men myght see farre of, euen to the toppe of an hyll, and buylt seuen aulters, and offred an oxe and a ramme on euery aulter.¹⁵ And he said vnto Balac: Stande here by thy burnt sacrifice, whyle I meete [the Lorde] yonder.¹⁶ And the Lord met Balaam, and put a worde in his mouth, and sayd: Go agayne vnto Balac, and say thus.¹⁷ And when he came to hym, beholde he stoode by his burnt sacrifice, and the lordes of Moab with hym. And Balac saide vnto hym: What hath the Lorde sayde?¹⁸ And he toke vp his parable, and aunswered: Rise vp Balac, and heare, and hearke vnto me thou sonne of Ziphor.¹⁹ God is not a man that he should lye, neither the sonne of a ma that he should repent: should he say & not do? or should he speake, and not make it good?²⁰ Beholde, I haue taken vpon me to blesse: for he hath blessed, and it is not in my power to aulter it.²¹ He behelde no vanitie in Iacob, nor saw transgression in Israel: The Lord his God is with hym, and the ioyfull shout of a king is among them.²² God brought them out of Egypt, they haue strength as an Unicorne.²³ For there is no sorcerie in Iacob, nor soothsaying in Israel, according to this time it shalbe sayde of Iacob and Israel: What hath God wrought?²⁴ Beholde, the people shall ryse vp as a Lion, and heaue vp him self as a young Lion: He shall not lye downe, vntyll he eate of the pray, and drinke the blood of them that are slayne.²⁵ And Balac sayde vnto Balaam: Neither curse them, nor blesse them at all.²⁶ But Balaam aunswered and said vnto Balac: Tolde not I thee, saying, All that ye Lorde speaketh, that I must do?²⁷ And Balac said vnto Balaam: Come I pray thee, and I wyll bryng thee yet vnto another place, if at all it will please God, that thou mayst thence curse them for my sake.²⁸ And Balac brought Balaam vnto the toppe of Peor, that looketh towarde Iesimon.²⁹ And Balaam said vnto Balac: Make me here seuen aulters, and prepare me here seuen oxen, and seuen rammes.³⁰ And Balac dyd as Balaam had sayd, and offered an oxe and a ramme on euerie aulter.