Study Desk

Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here."

And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.

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

And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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

And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.

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

And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.

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

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.

"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?

How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?

"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.

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.

"Who has counted the dust of Jacob, Or the number of the fourth part of Israel? May I die the death of the upright, And may my end be like his!"

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!