--- title: Numbers 23 slug: kjv/numbers-23 createdAt: 2024-08-07T02:37:57.702Z --- **1 **And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. **2 **And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on *every* altar a bullock and a ram. **3 **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 **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 **And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. **6 **And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab. **7 **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 shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, *whom* the LORD hath not defied? **9 **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 **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 **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 **And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth? **13 **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 **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 **And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet *the LORD* yonder. **16 **And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus. **17 **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 **And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: **19 **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** Behold, I have received *commandment* to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. **21 **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; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. **23 **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 **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 **And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. **26 **But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do? **27 **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 **And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon. **29 **And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. **30 **And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on *every* altar.