Balaam’s First Oracle

Then Balaam said to Balak,“Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”

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So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

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“Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone,” Balaam said to Balak.“Perhaps the LORD will meet with me. And whatever He reveals to me, I will tell you.”

So [Balaam] went off to a barren height, 4 and God met with him.“I have set up seven altars,” Balaam said“and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”

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Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying,“Return to Balak and give him this message.”

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So he returned to Balak, who was standing there beside his burnt offering, with all the princes of Moab.

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And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying:

“ Balak brought me from Aram,

the king of Moab from the mountains of the east.

‘Come,’ he said,‘put a curse on Jacob for me;

come [and] denounce Israel!’

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How can I curse [those whom] God has not cursed?

How can I denounce [those whom] the LORD has not denounced?

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For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs,

and I watch them from the hills.

Behold, a people dwelling apart,

not reckoning themselves among the nations.

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Who can count the dust of Jacob

or number [even] a fourth of Israel?

Let me die the death of the righteous;

let my end be like theirs!”

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Then Balak said to Balaam,“What have you done to me? I brought you [here] to curse my enemies, and behold, you have only blessed them

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But [Balaam] replied,“Should I not speak exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth

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