| World English Bible (WEB) | New International Version (NIV) |
| 1 Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams. | 1 Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me." |
| 2 Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram. | 2 Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar. |
| 3 Balaam said to Balak, Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go: perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me; and whatever he shows me I will tell you. He went to a bare height. | 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. |
| 4 God met Balaam: and he said to him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar. | 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." |
| 5 Yahweh put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak. | 5 The LORD put a message in Balaam's mouth and said, "Go back to Balak and give him this message." |
| 6 He returned to him, and, behold, he was standing by his burnt- offering, he, and all the princes of Moab. | 6 So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the princes of Moab. |
| 7 He took up his parable, and said, From Aram has Balak brought me, The king of Moab from the mountains of the East: Come, curse me Jacob, Come, defy Israel. | 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.' |
| 8 How shall I curse, whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy, whom Yahweh has not defied? | 8 How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced? |
| 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 reckoned among the nations. | 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. |
| 10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, Let my last end be like his! | 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!" |
| 11 Balak said to Balaam, What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have blessed them altogether. | 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!" |
| 12 He answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth? | 12 He answered, "Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?" |
| 13 Balak said to him, Please come with me to another place, from whence you may see them; you shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all: and curse me them from there. | 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." |
| 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. | 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. |
| 15 He said to Balak, Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet [Yahweh] yonder. | 15 Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there." |
| 16 Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak. | 16 The LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth and said, "Go back to Balak and give him this message." |
| 17 He came to him, and, behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, What has Yahweh spoken? | 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?" |
| 18 He took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; Listen to me, you son of Zippor: | 18 Then he uttered his oracle: "Arise, Balak, and listen; hear me, son of Zippor. |
| 19 God is not a man, that he should lie, Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good? | 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? |
| 20 Behold, I have received [commandment] to bless: He has blessed, and I can't reverse it. | 20 I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it. |
| 21 He has not saw iniquity in Jacob; Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel: Yahweh his God is with him, The shout of a king is among them. | 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. |
| 22 God brings them forth out of Egypt; He has as it were the strength of the wild-ox. | 22 God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox. |
| 23 Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; Neither is there any divination with Israel: Now shall it be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God done! | 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!' |
| 24 Behold, the people rises up as a lioness, As a lion does he lift himself up: He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, Drink the blood of the slain. | 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." |
| 25 Balak said to Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. | 25 Then Balak said to Balaam, "Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!" |
| 26 But Balaam answered Balak, Didn't I tell you, saying, All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do? | 26 Balaam answered, "Did I not tell you I must do whatever the LORD says?" |
| 27 Balak said to Balaam, Come now, I will take you to another place; peradventure it will please God that you may curse me them from there. | 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." |
| 28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert. | 28 And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland. |
| 29 Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams. | 29 Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me." |
| 30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar. | 30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. |
| The World English Bible is in the public domain. (The World English Bible Online) | Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online) |