Parallel Bible results for "numbers 23"

Numbers 23

The Message Bible MSG

1 Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and then prepare seven bulls and seven rams."

2 Balak did it. Then Balaam and Balak sacrificed a bull and a ram on each of the altars.

3 Balaam instructed Balak: "Stand watch here beside your Whole-Burnt-Offering while I go off by myself. Maybe God will come and meet with me. Whatever he shows or tells me, I'll report to you." Then he went off by himself.

4 God did meet with Balaam. Balaam said, "I've set up seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

5 Then God gave Balaam a message: "Return to Balak and give him this message."

6 He went back and found him stationed beside his Whole-Burnt-Offering and with him all the nobles of Moab.

7 Then Balaam spoke his message-oracle: Balak led me here from Aram, the king of Moab all the way from the eastern mountains. "Go, curse Jacob for me; go, damn Israel."

8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I damn whom God has not damned?

9 From rock pinnacles I see them, from hilltops I survey them: Look! a people camping off by themselves, thinking themselves outsiders among nations.

10 But who could ever count the dust of Jacob or take a census of cloud-of-dust Israel? I want to die like these right-living people! I want an end just like theirs!

11 Balak said to Balaam, "What's this? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and all you've done is bless them."

12 Balaam answered, "Don't I have to be careful to say what God gives me to say?"

13 Balak said to him, "Go with me to another place from which you can only see the outskirts of their camp - you won't be able to see the whole camp. From there, curse them for my sake."

14 So he took him to Watchmen's Meadow at the top of Pisgah. He built seven altars there and offered a bull and a ram on each altar

15 Balaam said to Balak, "Take up your station here beside your Whole-Burnt-Offering while I meet with him over there."

16 God met with Balaam and gave him a message. He said, "Return to Balak and give him the message."

17 Balaam returned and found him stationed beside his Whole-Burnt-Offering and the nobles of Moab with him. Balak said to him, "What did God say?"

18 Then Balaam spoke his message-oracle: On your feet, Balak. Listen, listen carefully son of Zippor:

19 God is not man, one given to lies, and not a son of man changing his mind. Does he speak and not do what he says? Does he promise and not come through

20 I was brought here to bless; and now he's blessed - how can I change that?

21 He has no bone to pick with Jacob, he sees nothing wrong with Israel. God is with them, and they're with him, shouting praises to their King

22 God brought them out of Egypt, rampaging like a wild ox.

23 No magic spells can bind Jacob, no incantations can hold back Israel. People will look at Jacob and Israel and say, "What a great thing has God done!"

24 Look, a people rising to its feet, stretching like a lion, a king-of-the-beasts, aroused, Unsleeping, unresting until its hunt is over and it's eaten and drunk its fill.

25 Balak said to Balaam, "Well, if you can't curse them, at least don't bless them."

26 Balaam replied to Balak, "Didn't I tell you earlier: 'All God speaks, and only what he speaks, I speak'?"

27 Balak said to Balaam, "Please, let me take you to another place; maybe we can find the right place in God's eyes where you'll be able to curse them for me."

28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, with a vista over the Jeshimon (Wasteland).

29 Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for sacrifice."

30 Balak did it and presented an offering of a bull and a ram on each of the altars.

English Standard Version ESV

1 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams. ”

2 Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram.

3 And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you. ” And he went to a bare height,

4 and God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram. ”

5 And the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak. ”

6 And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering.

7 And Balaam took up his discourse and said, “From Aram Balak has brought me, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains: ‘Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, denounce Israel! ’

8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?

9 For from the top of the crags I see him, from the hills I behold him; behold, a people dwelling alone, and not counting itself among the nations!

10 Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his! ”

11 And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them. ”

12 And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth? ”

13 And Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there. ”

14 And he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

15 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord over there. ”

16 And the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak. ”

17 And he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken? ”

18 And Balaam took up his discourse and said, “Rise, Balak, and hear; give ear to me, O son of Zippor:

19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a 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 fulfill it?

20 Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.

21 He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The Lord their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them.

22 God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of the wild ox.

23 For there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What has God wrought! ’

24 Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises up and as a lion it lifts itself; it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey and drunk the blood of the slain. ”

25 And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all. ”

26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord says, that I must do’? ”

27 And 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. ”

28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert.

29 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams. ”

30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.