1 And Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven calves, and seven rams. 2 And Balak did as Balaam told him; and he offered up a calf and a ram on [every] altar. 3 And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by thy sacrifice, and I will go and see if God will appear to me and meet me, and the word which he shall show me, I will report to thee. And Balak stood by his sacrifice. 4 And Balaam went to inquire of God; and he went straight forward, and God appeared to Balaam; and Balaam said to him, I have prepared the seven altars, and have offered a calf and a ram on [every] altar. 5 And God put a word into the mouth of Balaam, and said, Thou shalt return to Balak, and thus shalt thou speak. 6 And he returned to him, and moreover he stood over his whole burnt offerings, and all the princes of Moab with him; and the Spirit of God came upon him. 7 And he took up his parable, and said, Balak king of Moab sent for me out of Mesopotamia, Out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, And Come, call for a curse for me upon Israel. 8 How can I curse whom the Lord curses not? Or how can I devote whom God devotes not? 9 For from the top of the mountains I shall see him, And from the hills I shall observe him: Behold, the people shall dwell alone, And shall not be reckoned among the nations. 10 Who has exactly calculated the seed of Jacob, And who shall number the families of Israel? Let my soul die with the souls of the righteous, And let my seed be as their seed. 11 And Balak said to Balaam, What hast thou done to me? I called thee to curse my enemies, and behold thou hast greatly blessed [them]. 12 And Balaam said to Balak, Whatsoever the Lord shall put into my mouth, shall I not take heed to speak this? 13 And Balak said to him, Come yet with me to another place where thou shalt not see the people, but only thou shalt see a part of them, and shalt not see them all; and curse me them from thence. 14 And he took him to a high place of the field to the top of the quarried [rock], and he built there seven altars, and offered a calf and a ram on [every] altar. 15 And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by thy sacrifice, and I will go to inquire of God. 16 And God met Balaam, and put a word into his mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus shalt thou speak. 17 And he returned to him: and he also was standing by his whole burnt sacrifice, and all the princes of Moab with him; and Balak said to him, What has the Lord spoken? 18 And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; Hearken as a witness, thou son of Zippor. 19 God is not as man to waver, Nor as the son of man to be threatened; Shall he say and not perform? Shall he speak and not keep [to his word]? 20 Behold, I have received [commandment] to bless: I will bless, and not turn back. 21 There shall not be trouble in Jacob, Neither shall sorrow be seen in Israel: The Lord his God [is] with him, The glories of rulers [are] in him. 22 It was God who brought him out of Egypt; He has as it were the glory of a unicorn. 23 For there is no divination in Jacob, Nor enchantment in Israel; In season it shall be told to Jacob and Israel What God shall perform. 24 Behold, the people shall rise up as a lion’s whelp, And shall exalt himself as a lion; He shall not lie down till he have eaten the prey, And he shall drink the blood of the slain. 25 And Balak said to Balaam, Neither curse the people at all for me, nor bless them at all. 26 And Balaam answered and said to Balak, Spoke I not to thee, saying, Whatsoever thing God shall speak to me, that will I do? 27 And Balak said to Balaam, Come [and] I will remove thee to another place, if it shall please God, and curse me them from thence. 28 And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which extends to the wilderness. 29 And Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven calves, and seven rams. 30 And Balak did as Balaam told him, and offered a calf and a ram on [every] altar.
Numbers · Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Numbers 23 Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Same Septuagint text as Brenton, with modernised spelling.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Balak
The son of Zippor and king of Moab, who feared Israel and hired Balaam to curse them, but each oracle from the high places turned into a blessing.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 22:2; Numbers 22:4; Numbers 23:2
Cross references (28)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Numbers 23:29; Jude 11; Matthew 23:13; 2 Chronicles 29:21; Proverbs 15:8
- 2 Numbers 23:30; Numbers 23:14
- 3 Numbers 23:15; Genesis 8:20; Leviticus 1:1; Genesis 22:13; Genesis 22:2
- 4 Numbers 23:16; Luke 18:12; Ephesians 2:9; Numbers 22:20; Romans 3:27
- 5 Jeremiah 1:9; Deuteronomy 18:18; Isaiah 51:16; Isaiah 59:21; Numbers 23:16
- 7 Numbers 24:3; Numbers 22:5–6; Deuteronomy 23:4; Numbers 23:18; Job 29:1
- 8 Numbers 23:23; Isaiah 44:25; Numbers 23:20; Numbers 22:12; Isaiah 47:12–13
- 9 Deuteronomy 33:28; Deuteronomy 32:8; Exodus 33:16; Esther 3:8; Ezra 9:2
- 10 Genesis 13:16; Psalm 37:37; Psalm 116:15; Revelation 14:13; 2 Corinthians 5:1
- 11 Nehemiah 13:2; Numbers 24:10; Psalm 109:17–20; Numbers 23:7–8; Numbers 22:17
- 12 Numbers 22:38; Numbers 23:26; Numbers 24:13; Proverbs 26:25; Numbers 23:20
- 13 Psalm 109:17; James 3:9–10; Joshua 24:9; 1 Kings 20:28; Numbers 22:41
- 14 Isaiah 1:10–11; Deuteronomy 3:27; Deuteronomy 4:49; Hosea 12:11; Isaiah 46:6
- 15 Numbers 23:3; Numbers 22:8
- 16 Numbers 23:5; Numbers 22:35; Numbers 24:1
- 17 Numbers 23:26; Jeremiah 37:17; 1 Samuel 3:17
- 18 Judges 3:20
- 19 1 Samuel 15:29; James 1:17; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 6:18; Titus 1:2
- 20 John 10:27–29; Numbers 22:12; Genesis 12:2; Genesis 22:17; Isaiah 43:13
- 21 Psalm 23:4; Matthew 1:23; Jeremiah 50:20; Romans 4:7–8; Exodus 29:45–46
- 22 Numbers 24:8; Deuteronomy 33:17; Job 39:9–11; Exodus 20:2; Psalm 22:21
- 23 Luke 10:18–19; Joshua 13:22; Numbers 24:1; Micah 6:4–5; Romans 16:20
- 24 Genesis 49:27; Genesis 49:9; Revelation 5:5; Numbers 24:8–9; Numbers 24:17
- 25 Psalm 2:1–3
- 26 Acts 5:29; Numbers 22:18; Acts 4:19–20; Numbers 22:38; 2 Chronicles 18:13
- 27 Romans 11:29; Numbers 23:13; Proverbs 21:30; Isaiah 46:10–11; Isaiah 14:27
- 28 Numbers 21:20; Psalm 106:28
- 29 Numbers 23:1–2
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences