Numbers 23 Clementine Vulgate
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Dixitque Balaam ad Balac: Ædifica mihi hic septem aras, et para totidem vitulos, ejusdemque numeri arietes.
1 Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.”
2 Cumque fecisset juxta sermonem Balaam, imposuerunt simul vitulum et arietem super aram.
2 Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.
3 Dixitque Balaam ad Balac: Sta paulisper juxta holocaustum tuum, donec vadam, si forte occurrat mihi Dominus, et quodcumque imperaverit, loquar tibi.
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 Cumque abiisset velociter, occurrit illi Deus. Locutusque ad eum Balaam: Septem, inquit, aras erexi, et imposui vitulum et arietem desuper.
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 Dominus autem posuit verbum in ore ejus, et ait: Revertere ad Balac, et hæc loqueris.
5 Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
6 Reversus invenit stantem Balac juxta holocaustum suum, et omnes principes Moabitarum:
6 He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.
7 assumptaque parabola sua, dixit: [De Aram adduxit me Balac rex Moabitarum, de montibus orientis: Veni, inquit, et maledic Jacob; propera, et detestare Israël.
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 Quomodo maledicam, cui non maledixit Deus? qua ratione detester, quem Dominus non detestatur?
8 How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied?
9 De summis silicibus videbo eum, et de collibus considerabo illum. Populus solus habitabit, et inter gentes non reputabitur.
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 Quis dinumerare possit pulverem Jacob, et nosse numerum stirpis Israël? Moriatur anima mea morte justorum, et fiant novissima mea horum similia.]
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 Dixitque Balac ad Balaam: Quid est hoc quod agis? ut malediceres inimicis meis vocavi te, et tu e contrario benedicis eis.
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 Cui ille respondit: Num aliud possum loqui, nisi quod jusserit Dominus?
12 He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?”
13 Dixit ergo Balac: Veni mecum in alterum locum unde partem Israël videas, et totum videre non possis: inde maledicito ei.
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 Cumque duxisset eum in locum sublimem, super verticem montis Phasga, ædificavit Balaam septem aras, et impositis supra vitulo atque ariete,
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 dixit ad Balac: Sta hic juxta holocaustum tuum, donec ego obvius pergam.
15 He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet God over there.”
16 Cui cum Dominus occurrisset, posuissetque verbum in ore ejus, ait: Revertere ad Balac, et hæc loqueris ei.
16 Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.”
17 Reversus invenit eum stantem juxta holocaustum suum, et principes Moabitarum cum eo. Ad quem Balac: Quid, inquit, locutus est Dominus?
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 At ille, assumpta parabola sua, ait: [Sta, Balac, et ausculta; audi, fili Sephor:
18 He took up his parable, and said, “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor.
19 non est Deus quasi homo, ut mentiatur, nec ut filius hominis, ut mutetur. Dixit ergo, et non faciet? locutus est, et non implebit?
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 Ad benedicendum adductus sum: benedictionem prohibere non valeo.
20 Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it.
21 Non est idolum in Jacob, nec videtur simulacrum in Israël. Dominus Deus ejus cum eo est, et clangor victoriæ regis in illo.
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 Deus eduxit illum de Ægypto, cujus fortitudo similis est rhinocerotis.
22 God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.
23 Non est augurium in Jacob, nec divinatio in Israël: temporibus suis dicetur Jacob et Israëli quid operatus sit Deus.
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 Ecce populus ut leæna consurget, et quasi leo erigetur: non accubabit donec devoret prædam, et occisorum sanguinem bibat.]
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 Dixitque Balac ad Balaam: Nec maledicas ei, nec benedicas.
25 Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.”
26 Et ille ait: Nonne dixi tibi quod quidquid mihi Deus imperaret, hoc facerem?
26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do’?”
27 Et ait Balac ad eum: Veni, et ducam te ad alium locum: si forte placeat Deo ut inde maledicas eis.
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 Cumque duxisset eum super verticem montis Phogor, qui respicit solitudinem,
28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert.
29 dixit ei Balaam: Ædifica mihi hic septem aras, et para totidem vitulos, ejusdemque numeri arietes.
29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
30 Fecit Balac ut Balaam dixerat: imposuitque vitulos et arietes per singulas aras.
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
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
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