Numbers 23 - Introduction

1, 13,

28 Balaks sacrifice. 7,

18 Balaams parable.

1 And Balaam saide vnto Balak, Build me here seuen Altars, and prepare mee here seuen oxen, and seuen rammes.

2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken, and Balak & Balaam offered on euery altar a bullocke and a ramme.

[Balaam blesseth the Israelites, and prophesieth.]

3 And Balaam said vnto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offring, and I wil goe: peraduenture the Lord will come to meete mee; and whatsoeuer he sheweth me, I will tell thee. And [Note: Or, he went solitary.] he went to an high place.

4 And God met Balaam, and he said vnto him, I haue prepared seuen altars, and I haue offered vpon euery altar a bullocke and a ramme.

5 And the Lord put a word in Balaams mouth, and said, Returne vnto Balak, & thus thou shalt speake.

6 And he returned vnto him, and loe, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, hee, and all the Princes of Moab.

7 And he tooke vp his parable, and said, Balak the King of Moab hath brought mee from Aram, out of the mountaines of the East, saying, Come, curse me Iacob, and come, defie Israel.

8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defie, whom the Lord hath not defied?

9 For from the top of the rockes I see him, and from the hilles I behold him: loe, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not bee reckoned among the nations.

10 Who can count the dust of Iacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let [Note: Hebrew: my soule, or my life.] mee die the death of the righteous, & let my last end be like his.

11 And Balak saide vnto Balaam, What hast thou done vnto me? I tooke thee to curse mine enemies, and behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.

12 And he answered, and said, Must I not take heede to speake that which the Lord hath put in my mouth?

13 And Balak said vnto him, Come, I pray thee, with me, vnto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the vtmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence.

14 And hee brought him into the fielde of Zophim, to the toppe of [Note: Or, the hill.] Pisgah, and built seuen altars, and offered a bullocke and a ramme on euery altar.

15 And he said vnto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meete the Lord yonder.

16 And the Lord met Balaam, and [Note: Numbers 22:35.] put a word in his mouth, and saide, Goe againe vnto Balak, and say thus.

17 And when hee came to him, behold,

[Balaam blesseth the Israelites, and prophesieth.]

he stood by his burnt offring, and the Princes of Moab with him. And Balak said vnto him, What hath the Lord spoken?

18 And he tooke vp his parable, and said, Rise vp Balak, & heare; hearken vnto me, thou sonne of Zippor:

19 God is not a man that he should lie, neither the sonne of man, that hee should repent: hath he said, and shall he not doe it? or, hath hee spoken, and shall he not make it good?

20 Behold, I haue receiued commandement to blesse: and hee hath blessed, and I cannot reuerse it.

21 Hee hath not beheld iniquitie in Iacob, neither hath he seene peruersenesse in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shoute of a King is among them.

22 [Note: Numbers 24:8.] God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an Unicorne.

23 Surely there is no inchantment [Note: Or, in.] against Iacob, neither is there any diuination against Israel: according to this time it shalbe said of Iacob, and of Israel, What hath God wrought!

24 Beholde, the people shall rise vp as a great Lion, and lift vp himselfe as a yong Lion: hee shall not lie downe vntill he eate of the pray, and drinke the blood of the slaine.

25 And Balak said vnto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor blesse them at all.

26 But Balaam answered, and said vnto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speaketh, that I must doe?

27 And Balak saide vnto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee vnto another place, peraduenture it will please God, that thou mayest curse me them from thence.

28 And Balak brought Balaam vnto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Ieshimon.

29 And Balaam saide vnto Balak, Build mee here seuen altars, and prepare me here seuen bullocks, and seuen rammes.

30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offred a bullocke and a ramme on euery altar.