| 章 |
| 23:1 |
Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me."
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| 23:2 |
Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
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| 23:3 |
Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you." Then he went off to a barren height.
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| 23:4 |
God met with him, and Balaam said, "I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram."
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| 23:5 |
The LORD put a message in Balaam's mouth and said, "Go back to Balak and give him this message."
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| 23:6 |
So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the princes of Moab.
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| 23:7 |
Then Balaam uttered his oracle: "Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. `Come,' he said, `curse Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel.
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| 23:8 |
'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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| 23:9 |
From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations.
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| 23:10 |
Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs!"
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| 23:11 |
Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!"
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| 23:12 |
He answered, "Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?"
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| 23:13 |
Then Balak said to him, "Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will see only a part but not all of them. And from there, curse them for me."
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| 23:14 |
So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
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| 23:15 |
Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there."
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| 23:16 |
The LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth and said, "Go back to Balak and give him this message."
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| 23:17 |
So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the princes of Moab. Balak asked him, "What did the LORD say?"
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| 23:18 |
Then he uttered his oracle: "Arise, Balak, and listen; hear me, son of Zippor.
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| 23:19 |
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
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| 23:20 |
I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.
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| 23:21 |
"No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them.
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| 23:22 |
God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox.
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| 23:23 |
There is no sorcery against Jacob, no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, `See what God has done!
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| 23:24 |
'The people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest till he devours his prey and drinks the blood of his victims."
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| 23:25 |
Then Balak said to Balaam, "Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!"
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| 23:26 |
Balaam answered, "Did I not tell you I must do whatever the LORD says?"
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| 23:27 |
Then Balak said to Balaam, "Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there."
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| 23:28 |
And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.
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| 23:29 |
Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me."
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| 23:30 |
Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
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