Study Desk

So he returned to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, he and all the leaders of Moab.

He took up his discourse and said, "From Aram Balak has brought me, Moab's king from the mountains of the East, 'Come curse Jacob for me, And come, denounce Israel!'

"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!"

Then the LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak."

He came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, "What has the LORD spoken?"

Then he took up his discourse and said, "Arise, O Balak, and hear; Give ear to me, O son of Zippor!

"He has not observed misfortune in Jacob; Nor has He seen trouble in Israel; The LORD his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them.

When Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times to seek omens but he set his face toward the wilderness.

And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him.

He took up his discourse and said, "The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened;

The oracle of him who hears the words of God, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered,

"Water will flow from his buckets, And his seed will be by many waters, And his king shall be higher than Agag, And his kingdom shall be exalted.

"God brings him out of Egypt, He is for him like the horns of the wild ox. He will devour the nations who are his adversaries, And will crush their bones in pieces, And shatter them with his arrows.

Then Balak's anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, "I called you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have persisted in blessing them these three times!

'Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything contrary to the command of the LORD, either good or bad, of my own accord. What the LORD speaks, that I will speak'?

He took up his discourse and said, "The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,

The oracle of him who hears the words of God, And knows the knowledge of the Most High, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered.

And he looked at Amalek and took up his discourse and said, "Amalek was the first of the nations, But his end shall be destruction."

And he looked at the Kenite, and took up his discourse and said, "Your dwelling place is enduring, And your nest is set in the cliff.

Then he took up his discourse and said, "Alas, who can live except God has ordained it?