Numbers · Catholic Public Domain Version
Numbers 23 Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
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- No imprimatur; single translator.
1 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars here for me, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.”
1 Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.”
2 And when he had acted according to the words of Balaam, they placed a calf and a ram together on each altar.
2 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 for a little while next to your holocaust, until I go, to see if perhaps the Lord will meet with me. And whatever he will command, I shall speak to you.”
3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” He went to a bare height.
4 And after he had quickly departed, God met with him. And Balaam, speaking to him, said: “I have set up seven altars, and I have placed a calf and a ram on each.”
4 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 Then the Lord placed the word in his mouth, and he said: “Return to Balak, and you shall say this.”
5 Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
6 Returning, he found Balak standing next to his holocaust, with all the leaders of the Moabites.
6 He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.
7 And taking up his parable, he said: “Balak, king of the Moabites, has led me from Aram, from the mountains of the east. ‘Come forth,’ he said, ‘and curse Jacob. Hurry and condemn Israel.’
7 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. Come, defy Israel.
8 How shall I curse him, whom God has not cursed? For what reason would I condemn him, whom the Lord does not condemn?
8 How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied?
9 I will look upon him from the tops of the stones, and I will consider him from the hills. This people shall dwell alone, and they shall not be counted among the nations.
9 For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be listed among the nations.
10 Who can number the dust that is Jacob, and who can know the number of the stock of Israel? May my soul die a just death, and may my end be like theirs.”
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, or count the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!”
11 And Balak said to Balaam: “What is this that you are doing? I called for you, in order to curse my enemies, and to the contrary, you bless them.”
11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether.”
12 He answered him, “How can I say anything other than what the Lord orders?”
12 He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?”
13 Therefore, Balak said: “Come with me to another place, from where you may see a portion of Israel, though you cannot see them all. Curse them from there.”
13 Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you may see them. You shall see just part of them, and shall not see them all. Curse them from there for me.”
14 And when he had led him to a lofty place, on the top of mount Pisgah, Balaam built seven altars, and placing upon each a calf and a ram,
14 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 he said to Balak, “Stand here next to your holocaust, while I continue on to meet him.”
15 He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet God over there.”
16 And when the Lord had met him, and had put the word in his mouth, he said, “Return to Balak, and you shall say this to him.”
16 Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.”
17 Returning, he found him standing next to his holocaust, and the leaders of the Moabites were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”
17 He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh spoken?”
18 But, taking up his parable, he said: “Stand, Balak, and pay attention. Listen, you son of Zippor.
18 He took up his parable, and said, “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor.
19 God is not like a man, so that he would lie, nor is he like a son of man, so that he would be changed. Therefore, having spoken, will he not act? Has he ever spoken, and not fulfilled?
19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and he won’t do it? Or has he spoken, and he won’t make it good?
20 I was led here to bless, and I have no strength to hinder the blessing.
20 Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it.
21 There is no idol in Jacob; neither is there a false image to be seen in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the resound of royal victory is in him.
21 He has not seen iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. Yahweh his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them.
22 God has led him away from Egypt; his strength is like that of the rhinoceros.
22 God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.
23 There is no soothsaying in Jacob, nor any divination in Israel. In their times, it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God has wrought.
23 Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; neither is there any divination with Israel. Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘What has God done!’
24 Behold, the people will rise up like a lioness, and lie down like a lion. But they will not lie down until they devour the prey and drink the blood of the slain.”
24 Behold, a people rises up as a lioness. As a lion he lifts 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 him, nor bless him.”
25 Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.”
26 And he said, “Have I not told you that whatever God would command of me, I would do?”
26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do’?”
27 And Balak said to him: “Come and I will lead you to another place. If perhaps it may please God, then you may curse them from there.”
27 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 when he had led him on to the top of mount Peor, which looks out toward the wilderness,
28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert.
29 Balaam said to him, “Build seven altars here for me, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.”
29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and he placed on each altar a calf and a ram.
30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.
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