1And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
2And Balak did as Balaam spoke, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
3And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand up by your burnt offering, and let me go. Maybe YHWH will communicate to me. And whatever He’ll show me, I’ll tell you.” And he went to a viewpoint.
4And God communicated to Balaam. And he said to Him, “I’ve arranged the seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.”
5And YHWH put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and He said, “Go back to Balak, and speak like this.”
6And he went back to him, and here he was, standing up by his burnt offering, he and all the chiefs of Moab.
7And he took up his pronouncement, and he said:
Balak led me from Aram,
Moab’s king from mountains of the East.
“Come, curse Jacob for me!
Come, denounce Israel!”
23:7. pronouncement. There is no adequate way of conveying the sense of Hebrew m
šl, a pronouncement reflecting wisdom, inspiration, and, in some instances, revelation, usually in poetry. It can refer to a proverb or parable, but that does not fit here.
23:7. Balak led me from Aram, Moab’s king from mountains of the East. We should particularly note the beauty of the poems of the Balaam episode. The poetry is embroidered more intimately in its prose context than most biblical poetry that is housed in the narrative books. Neither the narrative nor the poetry is complete without the other. The narrative context sets the scene and creates the ironic character of the poetry: the Moabite king has hired Balaam to curse Israel, but Balaam blesses them instead. The poems themselves refer back to the narrative context and are referred to in turn in the course of the narrative: Balak hears the poems and complains about them. The Balaam episode is a splendid example of the merging of poetry and prose in the Hebrew Bible.
8How shall I execrate whom God hasn’t execrated?
And how shall I denounce whom YHWH hasn’t denounced?
9For from the top of rocks I see it,
and from hills I view it.
Here: a people dwelling separate
and not reckoned among the nations.
23:9. rocks. The word “rock” refers not to a small stone but to a crag of the mountain. See Exodus 17 text and comments.
10Who has counted the dust of Jacob
and the number of a fourth of Israel?
May my soul die the death of the righteous,
and may my future be like his!
11And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me?! I took you to execrate my enemies. And, here, you’ve blessed them!”
12And he answered and said, “Isn’t it that what ever YHWH sets in my mouth, that is what I’ll watch out to say?!”
13And Balak said to him, “Come on with me to another place from which you’ll see it. You’ll see nothing but its edge, and you won’t see all of it. And execrate it for me from there.”
14And 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.
23:14. Zophim. Meaning “lookouts”—a place with a view.
15And he said to Balak, “Stand up here by your burnt offering, and I’ll be communicated with here.”
16And YHWH was communicated to Balaam, and He set a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak, and you shall speak this.”
17And he came to him, and here he was, standing up by his burnt offering, and the chiefs of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, “What did YHWH speak?”
18And he took up his pronouncement, and he said:
Get up, Balak, and listen.
Hear me, son of Zippor.
19God is not a man, that He would lie,
or a human being, that He would regret.
Has He said and will not do
or spoken and will not bring it about?
20Here, I was taken to bless,
and He blessed, and I won’t take it back.
21He didn’t find harm in Jacob,
and He didn’t see trouble in Israel.
YHWH, its God, is with it,
and a shout for a king is in it.
22God who brought them out from Egypt is like a wild ox’s horns for it.
23For there’s no divination against Jacob
and no enchantment against Israel.
At this time it will be said to Jacob
and to Israel: “What has God done?”
24Here, a people will get up like a feline
and like a lion will raise itself.
It won’t lie down until it has eaten prey
and until it has drunk blood of carcasses.
25And Balak said to Balaam, “Don’t do either: execrate them or bless them!”
26And Balaam answered, and he said to Balak, “Didn’t I speak to you, saying, ‘Everything that YHWH will speak, that is what I’ll do’?”
27And Balak said to Balaam, “Come on. I’ll take you to another place. Maybe it will be right in God’s eyes, and you’ll execrate it for me from there.”
28And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which looks out over Jeshimon.
29And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
