The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and then prepare seven bulls and seven rams."
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And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.
2 Balak did it. Then Balaam and Balak sacrificed a bull and a ram on each of the altars.
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And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.
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.
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And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the LORD will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place.
4 God did meet with Balaam. Balaam said, "I've set up seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
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And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram.
5 Then God gave Balaam a message: "Return to Balak and give him this message."
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And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.
6 He went back and found him stationed beside his Whole-Burnt-Offering and with him all the nobles of Moab.
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And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes 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."
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And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.
8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I damn whom God has not damned?
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How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?
9 From rock pinnacles I see them, from hilltops I survey them: Look! a people camping off by themselves, thinking themselves outsiders among nations.
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For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the 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!
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Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!
11 Balak said to Balaam, "What's this? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and all you've done is bless them."
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And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.
12 Balaam answered, "Don't I have to be careful to say what God gives me to say?"
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And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth?
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."
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And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence.
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
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And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.
15 Balaam said to Balak, "Take up your station here beside your Whole-Burnt-Offering while I meet with him over there."
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And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the LORD yonder.
16 God met with Balaam and gave him a message. He said, "Return to Balak and give him the message."
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And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus.
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?"
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And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the LORD spoken?
18 Then Balaam spoke his message-oracle: On your feet, Balak. Listen, listen carefully son of Zippor:
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And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou 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
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God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good
20 I was brought here to bless; and now he's blessed - how can I change that?
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Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.
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
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He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them
22 God brought them out of Egypt, rampaging like a wild ox.
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God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.
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!"
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Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!
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.
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Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.
25 Balak said to Balaam, "Well, if you can't curse them, at least don't bless them."
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And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.
26 Balaam replied to Balak, "Didn't I tell you earlier: 'All God speaks, and only what he speaks, I speak'?"
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But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?
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."
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And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.
28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, with a vista over the Jeshimon (Wasteland).
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And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon.
29 Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for sacrifice."
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And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.
30 Balak did it and presented an offering of a bull and a ram on each of the altars.
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And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The King James Version is in the public domain.