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The Blue Letter Bible

Numbers 23 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Balaam Blesses Israel

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:1

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

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:2

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:2 - Balak followed his instructions, and the two of them sacrificed a young bull and a ram on each altar.

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:3

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:3 - Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offerings, and I will go to see if the LORD will respond to me. Then I will tell you whatever he reveals to me.” So Balaam went alone to the top of a bare hill,

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:4

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:4 - and God met him there. Balaam said to him, “I have prepared seven altars and have sacrificed a young bull and a ram on each altar.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:5

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:5 - The LORD gave Balaam a message for King Balak. Then he said, “Go back to Balak and give him my message.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:6

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:6 - So Balaam returned and found the king standing beside his burnt offerings with all the officials of Moab.

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:7

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:7 - This was the message Balaam delivered:
“Balak summoned me to come from Aram;
the king of Moab brought me from the eastern hills.
‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me!
Come and announce Israel’s doom.’

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:8

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:8 - But how can I curse those
whom God has not cursed?
How can I condemn those
whom the LORD has not condemned?

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:9

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:9 - I see them from the cliff tops;
I watch them from the hills.
I see a people who live by themselves,
set apart from other nations.

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:10

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:10 - Who can count Jacob’s descendants, as numerous as dust?
Who can count even a fourth of Israel’s people?
Let me die like the righteous;
let my life end like theirs.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:11

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:11 - Then King Balak demanded of Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies. Instead, you have blessed them!”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:12

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:12 - But Balaam replied, “I will speak only the message that the LORD puts in my mouth.”
Balaam’s Second Message

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:13

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:13 - Then King Balak told him, “Come with me to another place. There you will see another part of the nation of Israel, but not all of them. Curse at least that many!”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:14

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:14 - So Balak took Balaam to the plateau of Zophim on Pisgah Peak. He built seven altars there and offered a young bull and a ram on each altar.

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:15

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:15 - Then Balaam said to the king, “Stand here by your burnt offerings while I go over there to meet the LORD.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:16

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:16 - And the LORD met Balaam and gave him a message. Then he said, “Go back to Balak and give him my message.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:17

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:17 - So Balaam returned and found the king standing beside his burnt offerings with all the officials of Moab. “What did the LORD say?” Balak asked eagerly.

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:18

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:18 - This was the message Balaam delivered:
“Rise up, Balak, and listen!
Hear me, son of Zippor.

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:19

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:19 - God is not a man, so he does not lie.
He is not human, so he does not change his mind.
Has he ever spoken and failed to act?
Has he ever promised and not carried it through?

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:20

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:20 - Listen, I received a command to bless;
God has blessed, and I cannot reverse it!

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:21

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:21 - No misfortune is in his plan for Jacob;
no trouble is in store for Israel.
For the LORD their God is with them;
he has been proclaimed their king.

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:22

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:22 - God brought them out of Egypt;
for them he is as strong as a wild ox.

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:23

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:23 - No curse can touch Jacob;
no magic has any power against Israel.
For now it will be said of Jacob,
‘What wonders God has done for Israel!’

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:24

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:24 - These people rise up like a lioness,
like a majestic lion rousing itself.
They refuse to rest
until they have feasted on prey,
drinking the blood of the slaughtered!”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:25

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:25 - Then Balak said to Balaam, “Fine, but if you won’t curse them, at least don’t bless them!”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:26

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:26 - But Balaam replied to Balak, “Didn’t I tell you that I can do only what the LORD tells me?”
Balaam’s Third Message

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:27

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:27 - Then King Balak said to Balaam, “Come, I will take you to one more place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them 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 Mount Peor, overlooking the wasteland.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:29

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:29 - Balaam again told Balak, “Build me seven altars, and prepare seven young bulls and seven rams for me to sacrifice.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Num 23:30

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 23:30 - So Balak did as Balaam ordered and offered a young bull and a ram on each altar.
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
Or overlooking Jeshimon.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

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

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Numbers Chapter 23 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard 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