> [[numbers-22|← Previous]] | [[numbers-00|TOC]] | [[numbers-24|Next →]] --- # Numbers, Chapter 23 ## Chapter 23 1 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and here prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” ^numbers-23-1 2 So Balak did as Balaam had ordered, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ^numbers-23-2 3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering while I go over there. Perhaps the LORD will meet me, and then I will tell you whatever he lets me see.” And so he went out on the barren height. ^numbers-23-3 4 Then God met Balaam, and Balak said to him: “I have erected the seven altars, and have offered a bull and a ram on each altar.” ^numbers-23-4 5 The LORD put an utterance in Balaam’s mouth, and said: Go back to Balak, and speak accordingly. ^numbers-23-5 6 So he went back to Balak, who was still standing by his burnt offering together with all the princes of Moab. ^numbers-23-6 7 Then Balaam recited his poem: ^numbers-23-7 From Aram Balak has led me here, Moab’s king, from the mountains of Qedem: “Come, curse for me Jacob, come, denounce Israel.” 8 How can I lay a curse on the one whom God has not cursed? ^numbers-23-8 How denounce the one whom the LORD has not denounced? 9 For from the top of the crags I see him, ^numbers-23-9 from the heights I behold him. Here is a people that lives apart and does not reckon itself among the nations. 10 Who has ever counted the dust of Jacob, ^numbers-23-10 who numbered Israel’s dust-cloud? May I die the death of the just, may my end be like theirs! 11 “What have you done to me?” cried Balak to Balaam. “It was to lay a curse on my foes that I brought you here; but instead, you have blessed them!” ^numbers-23-11 12 Balaam replied, “Is it not what the LORD puts in my mouth that I take care to repeat?” ^numbers-23-12 **The Second Oracle.** 13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you can see them; but you will see only some, not all of them, and from there lay a curse on them for me.” ^numbers-23-13 14 So he brought him to a lookout post on the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each of them. ^numbers-23-14 15 Balaam then said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I seek a meeting over there.” ^numbers-23-15 16 Then the LORD met Balaam, and, having put an utterance in his mouth, said to him: Return to Balak, and speak accordingly. ^numbers-23-16 17 So he went to Balak, who was still standing by his burnt offering together with the princes of Moab. When Balak asked him, “What did the LORD say?” ^numbers-23-17 18 Balaam recited his poem: ^numbers-23-18 Rise, Balak, and listen; give ear to my testimony, son of Zippor! 19 God is not a human being who speaks falsely, ^numbers-23-19 nor a mortal, who feels regret. Is God one to speak and not act, to decree and not bring it to pass? 20 I was summoned to bless; ^numbers-23-20 I will bless; I cannot revoke it! 21 Misfortune I do not see in Jacob, ^numbers-23-21 nor do I see misery in Israel. The LORD, their God, is with them; among them is the war-cry of their King. 22 They have the like of a wild ox’s horns: ^numbers-23-22 God who brought them out of Egypt. 23 No, there is no augury against Jacob, ^numbers-23-23 nor divination against Israel. Now it is said of Jacob, of Israel, “Look what God has done!” 24 Here is a people that rises up like a lioness, ^numbers-23-24 and gets up like a lion; It does not rest till it has devoured its prey and has drunk the blood of the slain. 25 “Neither lay a curse on them nor bless them,” said Balak to Balaam. ^numbers-23-25 26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘Everything the LORD tells me I must do’?” ^numbers-23-26 **The Third Oracle.** 27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me bring you to another place; perhaps God will approve of your laying a curse on them for me from there.” ^numbers-23-27 28 So he took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks Jeshimon. ^numbers-23-28 29 Balaam then said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here; and here prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.” ^numbers-23-29 30 And Balak did as Balaam had ordered, offering a bull and a ram on each altar. ^numbers-23-30 \* (23:7) Aram: the ancient name of the region later known as Syria. The mountains of Qedem: Qedem is the name for a region in northern Syria. Qedem also means “eastern.” Perhaps this designates the low ranges in the Syrian desert. The “mountains of old” is also a possible translation. \* (23:9) A people that lives apart: that is, “securely”; cf. [Dt 33:28]. \* (23:10) The dust of Jacob…Israel’s dust-cloud: the Israelites will be as numerous as the dust kicked up by Israel in its march through the wilderness. \* (23:13) To another place: Balak thought that if Balaam would view Israel from a different site, he could deliver a different kind of omen. \* (23:21) Misfortune…misery: Balaam states that he is unable to see any evils for Israel. \* (23:22) A wild ox’s horns: Israel possesses the strength of a wild ox because of God’s presence among them. Compare the claim by the psalmist, the Lord is “my rock…my saving horn” (([[psalm-18|Ps 18]]:3]). a. (23:7) [Nm 22:6]. b. (23:22) [Nm 24:8]. c. (23:24) [Nm 24:9]; [Gn 49:9]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[numbers-22|← Previous]] | [[numbers-00|TOC]] | [[numbers-24|Next →]]