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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 shall 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 that dwells alone, And shall 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 shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall 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 shall 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 shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God wrought!²⁴ Look, the people rises up as a lioness, And as a lion does he lift himself up: He shall 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.