Study Desk

But the donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been in the habit of doing such a thing to you?" And he said, "No."

Then it came about in the morning that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the high places of Baal, and he saw from there a portion of the people.

Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

Then 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." So he went to a bare hill.

Now God met with Balaam, and he said to Him, "I have set up the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each altar."

Then the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, "Return to Balak, and this is what you shall speak."

"How am I to put a curse on him upon whom God has not put a curse? And how am I to curse him whom the LORD has not cursed?

"For I see him from the top of the rocks, And I look at him from the hills; Behold, a people that lives in isolation, And does not consider itself to be among the nations.

Then Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I took you to put a curse on my enemies, but behold, you have actually blessed them!"

Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and put a curse on them for me from there."

So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

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

"God is not a man, that He would lie, Nor a son of man, that He would change His mind; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

"Behold, I have received a command to bless; When He has blessed, I cannot revoke it.

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

"Behold, a people rises like a lioness, And like a lion it raises itself; It will not lie down until it devours the prey, And drinks the blood of those slain."

Balak did just as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

"Like valleys that stretch out, Like gardens beside a river, Like aloes planted by the LORD, Like cedars beside the waters.

"He crouches, he lies down like a lion, And like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? Blessed is everyone who blesses you, And cursed is everyone who curses you."

I see him, but not now; I look at him, but not near; A star shall appear from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall smash the forehead of Moab, And overcome all the sons of Sheth.