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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Numbers 23 NIV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/numbers/23.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/numbers/23-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NIV</a> > Numbers 23</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../numbers/22.htm" title="Numbers 22">◄</a> Numbers 23 <a href="../numbers/24.htm" title="Numbers 24">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New International Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/niv/esv/numbers/23.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="sectionhead">Balaam’s First Message</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the <span class="name">Lord</span> will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>God met with him, and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>The <span class="name">Lord</span> put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Then Balaam spoke his message:</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line1">“Balak brought me from Aram,</p><p class="line2">the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.</p><p class="line1">‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me;</p><p class="line2">come, denounce Israel.’</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>How can I curse</p><p class="line2">those whom God has not cursed?</p><p class="line1">How can I denounce</p><p class="line2">those whom the <span class="name">Lord</span> has not denounced?</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>From the rocky peaks I see them,</p><p class="line2">from the heights I view them.</p><p class="line1">I see a people who live apart</p><p class="line2">and do not consider themselves one of the nations.</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Who can count the dust of Jacob</p><p class="line2">or number even a fourth of Israel?</p><p class="line1">Let me die the death of the righteous,</p><p class="line2">and may my final end be like theirs!”</p></div> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>He answered, “Must I not speak what the <span class="name">Lord</span> puts in my mouth?”</p> <p class="sectionhead">Balaam’s Second Message</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp. And from there, curse them for me.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>The <span class="name">Lord</span> met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials. Balak asked him, “What did the <span class="name">Lord</span> say?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Then he spoke his message:</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line1">“Arise, Balak, and listen;</p><p class="line2">hear me, son of Zippor.</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>God is not human, that he should lie,</p><p class="line2">not a human being, that he should change his mind.</p><p class="line1">Does he speak and then not act?</p><p class="line2">Does he promise and not fulfill?</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>I have received a command to bless;</p><p class="line2">he has blessed, and I cannot change it.</p></div> <div class="stanza"><p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>“No misfortune is seen in Jacob,</p><p class="line2">no misery observed <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or He has not looked on Jacob's offenses or on the wrongs found">a</a></sup></span> in Israel.</p><p class="line1">The <span class="name">Lord</span> their God is with them;</p><p class="line2">the shout of the King is among them.</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>God brought them out of Egypt;</p><p class="line2">they have the strength of a wild ox.</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>There is no divination against <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or in">b</a></sup></span> Jacob,</p><p class="line2">no evil omens against <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or in">c</a></sup></span> Israel.</p><p class="line1">It will now be said of Jacob</p><p class="line2">and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>The people rise like a lioness;</p><p class="line2">they rouse themselves like a lion</p><p class="line1">that does not rest till it devours its prey</p><p class="line2">and drinks the blood of its victims.”</p></div> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the <span class="name">Lord</span> says?”</p> <p class="sectionhead">Balaam’s Third Message</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.</p><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="footnotes"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">21</span> <span class="footnotebot">Or <i>He has not looked on Jacob’s offenses<br />     or on the wrongs found</i></span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">23</span> <span class="footnotebot">Or <i>in</i></span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">c</span> <span class="fnverse">23</span> <span class="footnotebot">Or <i>in</i></span><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><p class="ntext"><a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/version.htm">New International Version</a> (NIV)</p><p class="ntext2">Holy Bible, New International Version&reg, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by <a href="http://biblica.com">Biblica, Inc.</a>® Used by permission. 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