Bamidbar (Numbers) — 23

The Prophecies of Balaam

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

2 And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 

3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a desolate height. 

4 And 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH met Balaam, and Balaam said to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”

5 Then 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 

6 So Balaam returned to Balak, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Muab.

7 And he took up his oracle and said, Balak the king of Muab has brought me from Aram, From the mountains of the east. Come, curse Ya'aqub for me, and come, denounce Yashar'AL!’

8 “How shall I curse whom 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH has not denounced?

9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him; There! A people dwelling alone, Not reckoning itself among the nations.

10 “Who can count the dust of Ya'aqub, Or number one-fourth of Yashar'AL? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his!”

11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have Baraked them bountifully!”

12 So Balaam answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak what 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH has put in my mouth?”

Balaam’s Second Prophecy

13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only the outer part of them, and shall not see them all; curse them for me from there.” 

14 So he brought him to the field of Zuphim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

15 And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering while I meet  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH  over there.”

16 Then 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 

17 So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Muab were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH spoken?”

18 Then he took up his oracle and said: “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippur!

19 For 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH said, and will He not do? Or has 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH spoken, and will He not make it good?

20 Behold, I have received a command to barak Yashar'AL, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH has Baraked them, and I cannot reverse it.

21 For 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH has not observed iniquity in Ya'aqub, Nor has He seen wickedness in Yashar'AL, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH  his 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH  is with him, and the shout of a King is among them.

22 For 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH brings them out of Mitzraym; He has strength like a wild ox.

23 “For there is no sorcery against Ya'aqub, Nor any divination against Yashar'AL. It now must be said of Ya'aqub And of Yashar'AL, ‘Oh, what 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH has done!’

24 Look, a people rises like a lioness, And lifts itself up like a lion; It shall not lie down until it devours the prey, And drinks the blood of the slain.”

25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor Barak them at all!”

26 So Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘All that  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH speaks, that I must do’?”

Balaam’s Third Prophecy

27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH that you may curse them for me from there.” 

28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Paur, that overlooks the wasteland. 

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

30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.