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23
1 Balaam [Not people, Destroyer of people] said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.”
2 Balak did as Balaam [Not people, Destroyer of people] had spoken; and Balak and Balaam [Not people, Destroyer of people] offered on every altar a bull and a ram. 3 Balaam [Not people, Destroyer of people] said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps Adonai will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.”
He went to a bare height. 4 God met Balaam [Not people, Destroyer of people], 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 Adonai put a word in Balaam [Not people, Destroyer of people]’s mouth, and said, “Teshuvah ·Completely return· to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
6 He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab [From father]. 7 He took up his parable, and said,
“From Aram [Elevated] has Balak brought me,
the king of Moab [From father] from the mountains of the East.
Come, curse Jacob [Supplanter] for me.
Come, defy Israel [God prevails].
8 How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
How shall I defy whom Adonai has not defied?
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 Who can count the dust of Jacob [Supplanter],
or count the fourth part of Israel [God prevails]?
Let me die the death of the upright!
Let my last end be like his!”
11 Balak said to Balaam [Not people, Destroyer of people], “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether.”
12 He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Adonai puts in my mouth?”
(LY:5) 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 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 He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet over there.”
16 Adonai met Balaam [Not people, Destroyer of people], and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Teshuvah ·Completely return· to Balak, and say this.”
17 He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab [From father] with him. Balak said to him, “What has Adonai spoken?”
18 He took up his parable, and said,
“Rise up, Balak, and sh'ma ·hear obey·!
Listen to me, you son of Zippor.
19 God is not a man, that he should lie,
nor the son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?
20 Behold, I am ordered to bless.
When he blesses, and I can’t reverse it.
21 He has not seen iniquity in Jacob [Supplanter].
Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel [God prevails].
Adonai his God is with him.
The shout of a king is among them.
22 God brings them out of Egypt [Abode of slavery].
He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.
23 Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob [Supplanter];
Neither is there any divination with Israel [God prevails].
Now it shall be said of Jacob [Supplanter] and of Israel [God prevails],
‘What has God done!’
24 Behold, the 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 Balak said to Balaam [Not people, Destroyer of people], “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.”
26 But Balaam [Not people, Destroyer of people] answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that Adonai speaks, that I must do?’ ”
(RY:7, LY:6) 27 Balak said to Balaam [Not people, Destroyer of people], “Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.”
28 Balak took Balaam [Not people, Destroyer of people] to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert. 29 Balaam [Not people, Destroyer of people] said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
30 Balak did as Balaam [Not people, Destroyer of people] had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.

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© 2016 Thomas Robinson