Bible Gateway passage: Numbers 23 - New King James Version (2024)

The Prophecies of Balaam

23Then Balaam said to Balak, ^(A)“Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

²And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam ^(B)offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ³Then Balaam said to Balak, ^(C)“Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come ^(D)to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a desolate height. ^4(E)And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”

⁵Then the Lord ^(F)put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ⁶So he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

⁷And he ^(G)took up his ^[a]oracle and said:

“Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram,
From the mountains of the east.
^(H)‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
And come, ^(I)denounce Israel!’

⁸“How^(J) shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
⁹For from the top of the rocks I see him,
And from the hills I behold him;
There! ^(K)A people dwelling alone,
^(L)Not reckoning itself among the nations.

¹⁰“Who^(M) can count the ^[b]dust of Jacob,
Or number one-fourth of Israel?
Let me die ^(N)the death of the righteous,
And let my end be like his!”

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

¹²So he answered and said, ^(P)“Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?”

Balaam’s Second Prophecy

¹³Then 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.” ¹⁴So he brought him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, ^(Q)and built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵And he said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering while I ^[c]meet the Lord over there.”

¹⁶Then the Lord met Balaam, and ^(R)put a word in his mouth, and said, “Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ¹⁷So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”

¹⁸Then he took up his oracle and said:

^(S)“Rise up, Balak, and hear!
Listen to me, son of Zippor!

¹⁹“God^(T) is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He ^(U)said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
²⁰Behold, I have received a command to bless;
^(V)He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

²¹“He^(W) has not observed iniquity in Jacob,
Nor has He seen ^[d]wickedness in Israel.
The Lord his God is with him,
^(X)And the shout of a King is among them.
^22(Y)God brings them out of Egypt;
He has ^(Z)strength like a wild ox.

²³“For there is no ^[e]sorcery against Jacob,
Nor any ^[f]divination against Israel.
It now must be said of Jacob
And of Israel, ‘Oh, ^(AA)what God has done!’
²⁴Look, a people rises ^(AB)like a lioness,
And lifts itself up like a lion;
^(AC)It shall not lie down until it devours the prey,
And drinks the blood of the slain.”

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

²⁶So Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ^(AD)‘All that the Lord speaks, that I must do’?”

Balaam’s Third Prophecy

²⁷Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” ²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that ^(AE)overlooks the ^[g]wasteland. ²⁹Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ³⁰And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.