[23:1] And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”
[23:2] Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram.
[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,
[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.”
[23:5] And the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
[23:6] And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering.
[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!’
[23:8] How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
[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!
[23:10] 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!”
[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.”
[23:12] And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”