| 章 |
| 23:1 |
Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me."
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| 23:2 |
Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
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| 23:3 |
Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here beside your burnt offerings while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you." And he went to a bare height.
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| 23:4 |
Then God met Balaam; and Balaam said to him, "I have arranged the seven altars, and have offered a bull and a ram on each altar."
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| 23:5 |
The LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and this is what you must say."
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| 23:6 |
So he returned to Balak, who was standing beside his burnt offerings with all the officials of Moab.
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| 23:7 |
Then Balaam uttered his oracle, saying: "Balak has brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains: 'Come, curse Jacob for me; Come, denounce Israel!'
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| 23:8 |
How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?
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| 23:9 |
For from the top of the crags I see him, from the hills I behold him; Here is a people living alone, and not reckoning itself among the nations!
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| 23:10 |
Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the dust-cloud of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!"
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| 23:11 |
Then Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them."
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| 23:12 |
He answered, "Must I not take care to say what the LORD puts into my mouth?"
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| 23:13 |
So Balak said to him, "Come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only part of them, and shall not see them all; then curse them for me from there."
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| 23:14 |
So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah. He built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
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| 23:15 |
Balaam said to Balak, "Stand here beside your burnt offerings, while I meet the LORD over there.
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| 23:16 |
The LORD met Balaam, put a word into his mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and this is what you shall say."
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| 23:17 |
When he came to him, he was standing beside his burnt offerings with the officials of Moab. Balak said to him, "What has the LORD said?"
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| 23:18 |
Then Balaam uttered his oracle, saying: "Rise, Balak, and hear; listen to me, O son of Zippor:
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| 23:19 |
God is not a human being, that he should lie, or a mortal, that he should change his mind. Has he promised, and will he not do it? Has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
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| 23:20 |
See, I received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
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| 23:21 |
He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob; nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The LORD their God is with them, acclaimed as a king among them.
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| 23:22 |
God, who brings them out of Egypt, is like the horns of a wild ox for them.
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| 23:23 |
Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, 'See what God has done!'
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| 23:24 |
Look, a people rising up like a lioness, and rousing itself like a lion! It does not lie down until it has eaten the prey and drunk the blood of the slain."
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| 23:25 |
Then Balak said to Balaam, "Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all."
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| 23:26 |
But Balaam answered Balak, "Did I not tell you, 'Whatever the LORD says, that is what I must do'?"
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| 23:27 |
So Balak said to Balaam, "Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there."
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| 23:28 |
So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.
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| 23:29 |
Balaam said to Balak, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me."
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| 23:30 |
So Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
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