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The Blue Letter Bible

Numbers 23 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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Balaam’s First Oracle

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:1

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:1 - And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:2

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:2 - Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram.

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:3

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:3 - 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,

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:4

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:4 - 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.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:5

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:5 - And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:6

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:6 - And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering.

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:7

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:7 - 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!’

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:8

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:8 - How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:9

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:9 - 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!

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:10

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:10 - Who can count the dust of Jacob
or number the fourth part[fn] of Israel?
Let me die the death of the upright,
and let my end be like his!”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:11

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:11 - 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.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:12

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:12 - And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

Balaam’s Second Oracle

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:13

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:13 - 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.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:14

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:14 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:15

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:15 - Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the LORD over there.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:16

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:16 - And the LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:17

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:17 - 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?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:18

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:18 - And Balaam took up his discourse and said,
“Rise, Balak, and hear;
give ear to me, O son of Zippor:

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:19

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:19 - 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?

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:20

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:20 - Behold, I received a command to bless:
he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:21

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:21 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:22

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:22 - God brings them out of Egypt
and is for them like the horns of the wild ox.

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:23

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

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:24

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:24 - 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.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:25

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:25 - And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:26

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:26 - But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the LORD says, that I must do’?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:27

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:27 - 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.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:28

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:28 - So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:29

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:29 - And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:30

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:30 - And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
ESV Footnotes
Or dust clouds
Or Jeshimon
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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Numbers Chapter 23 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras