Numbers 23

vayyomer bilam el-balaq beneh-li vazeh shivah mizbekhot vehakhen li bazeh shivah farim veshivah elim

Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here and have seven bulls and seven rams ready here for me.”

vayya'as balaq ka'asher dibber bilam vayya'al balaq uvilam par va'ayil bammizbeakh

Balak did as Balaam directed; and Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

vayyomer bilam levalaq hityatsev al-olatekha ve'elekhah ulay yiqqareh Adonai liqrati udevar mah-yyareni vehiggadti lakh vayyelekh shefi

Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offerings while I am gone. Perhaps GOD will grant me a manifestation, and whatever is revealed to me I will tell you.” And he went off alone.

vayyiqqar elohim el-bilam vayyomer elayw et-shivat hammizbekhot arakhti va'a'al par va'ayil bammizbeakh

God became manifest to Balaam, who stated, “I have set up the seven altars and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.”

vayyasem Adonai davar befi vilam vayyomer shuv el-balaq vekhoh tedabber

And GOD put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and speak thus.”

vayyashov elayw vehinneh nitsav al-olato hu vekhol-sare mo'av

So he returned to him and found him standing beside his offerings, and all the Moabite dignitaries with him.

vayyissa meshalo vayyomar min-aram yankheni valaq melekh-mo'av meharre-qedem lekhah arah-lli ya'aqov ulekhah zo'amah yisra'el

He took up his theme, and said: From Aram has Balak brought me, Moab’s king from the hills of the East: Come, curse me Jacob, Come, tell Israel’s doom!

mah eqqov lo qabboh el umah ezom lo za'am Adonai

How can I damn whom God has not damned, How doom when GOD has not doomed?

ki-merosh tsurim erennu umiggeva'ot ashurennu hen-am levadad yishkon uvaggoyim lo yitkhashav

As I see them from the mountain tops, Gaze on them from the heights, There is a people that dwells apart, Not reckoned among the nations,

mi manah afar ya'aqov umispar et-rova yisra'el tamot nafshi mot yesharim utehi akhariti kamohu

Who can count the dust of Jacob, Number the dust-cloud of Israel? May I die the death of the upright, May my fate be like theirs!

vayyomer balaq el-bilam meh asita li laqov oyevay leqakhtikha vehinneh berakhta varekh

Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? Here I brought you to damn my enemies, and instead you have blessed them!”

vayya'an vayyomar halo et asher yasim Adonai befi oto eshmor ledabber

He replied, “I can only repeat faithfully what GOD puts in my mouth.”

vayyomer elayw balaq (lkh) [lekhah-]na itti el-maqom akher asher tirennu misham efes qatsehu tireh vekhullo lo tireh veqovno-li misham

Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place from which you can see them—you will see only a portion of them; you will not see all of them—and damn them for me from there.”

vayyiqqakhehu sedeh tsofim el-rosh happisgah vayyiven shivah mizbekhot vayya'al par va'ayil bammizbeakh

With that, he took him to Sedeh-zophim, on the summit of Pisgah. He built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

vayyomer el-balaq hityatsev koh al-olatekha ve'anokhi iqqareh koh

And [Balaam] said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offerings, while I seek a manifestation yonder.”

vayyiqqar Adonai el-bilam vayyasem davar befiv vayyomer shuv el-balaq vekhoh tedabber

GOD became manifest to Balaam and put a word in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak thus.”

vayyavo elayw vehinno nitsav al-olato vesare mo'av itto vayyomer lo balaq mah-ddibber Adonai

He went to him and found him standing beside his offerings, and the Moabite dignitaries with him. Balak asked him, “What did GOD say?”

vayyissa meshalo vayyomar qum balaq ushema ha'azinah aday beno tsippor

And he took up his theme, and said: Up, Balak, attend, Give ear unto me, son of Zippor!

lo ish el vikhazzev uven-adam veyitnekham hahu amar velo ya'aseh vedibber velo yeqimennah

God is not human to be capricious, Or mortal to have a change of heart. Would [God] speak and not act, Promise and not fulfill?

hinneh varekh laqakheti uverekh velo ashivennah

My message was to bless: When [God] blesses, I cannot reverse it.

lo-hibbit aven beya'aqov velo-ra'ah amal beyisra'el Adonai elohayw immo uteru'at melekh bo

No harm is in sight for Jacob, No woe in view for Israel. The ETERNAL their God is with them, And their Sovereign’s acclaim in their midst.

el motsi'am mimmitsrayim keto'afot re'em lo

God who freed them from Egypt Is for them like the horns of the wild ox.

ki lo-nakhash beya'aqov velo-qesem beyisra'el ka'et ye'amer leya'aqov uleyisra'el mah-ppa'al el

Lo, there is no augury in Jacob, No divining in Israel: Jacob is told at once, Yea Israel, what God has planned.

hen-am kelavi yaqum vekha'ari yitnassa lo yishkav ad-yokhal teref vedam-khalalim yishteh

Lo, a people that rises like a lioness, Leaps up like a lion, Rests not till it has feasted on prey And drunk the blood of the slain.

vayyomer balaq el-bilam gam-qov lo tiqqovennu gam-barekh lo tevarekhennu

Thereupon Balak said to Balaam, “Don’t curse them and don’t bless them!”

vayya'an bilam vayyomer el-balaq halo dibbarti elekha lemor kol asher-yedabber Adonai oto e'eseh

In reply, Balaam said to Balak, “But I told you: Whatever GOD says, that I must do.”

vayyomer balaq el-bilam lekhah-nna eqqakhakha el-maqom akher ulay yishar be'ene ha'elohim veqabboto li misham

Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps God will deem it right that you damn them for me there.”

vayyiqqakh balaq et-bilam rosh happe'or hannishqaf al-pene hayeshimon

Balak took Balaam to the peak of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.

vayyomer bilam el-balaq beneh-li vazeh shivah mizbekhot vehakhen li bazeh shivah farim veshivah elim

Balaam said to Balak, “Build me here seven altars, and have seven bulls and seven rams ready for me here.”

vayya'as balaq ka'asher amar bilam vayya'al par va'ayil bammizbeakh

Balak did as Balaam said: he offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.