Numbers Chapter 23 (NIV)
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Balaam’s First OracleBalaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”
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Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
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Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.
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God met with him, and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”
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The Lord put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this message.”
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So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the princes of Moab.
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Then Balaam uttered his oracle:“Balak brought me from Aram,the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me;come, denounce Israel.’
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How can I cursethose whom God has not cursed?How can I denouncethose whom the Lord has not denounced?
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From the rocky peaks I see them,from the heights I view them.I see a people who live apartand do not consider themselves one of the nations.
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Who can count the dust of Jacobor number the fourth part of Israel?Let me die the death of the righteous,and may my end be like theirs!”
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Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”
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He answered, “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”
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Balaam’s Second OracleThen Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will see only a part but not all of them. And from there, curse them for me.”
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So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
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Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.”
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The Lord met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this message.”
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So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the princes of Moab. Balak asked him, “What did the Lord say?”
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Then he uttered his oracle:“Arise, Balak, and listen;hear me, son of Zippor.
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God is not a man, that he should lie,nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.Does he speak and then not act?Does he promise and not fulfill?
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I have received a command to bless;he has blessed, and I cannot change it.
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“No misfortune is seen in Jacob,no misery observed in Israel.The Lord their God is with them;the shout of the King is among them.
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God brought them out of Egypt;they have the strength of a wild ox.
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There is no sorcery against Jacob,no divination against Israel.It will now be said of Jacoband of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’
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The people rise like a lioness;they rouse themselves like a lionthat does not rest till he devours his preyand drinks the blood of his victims.”
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Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”
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Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the Lord says?”
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Balaam’s Third OracleThen Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.”
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And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.
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Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”
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Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
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