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MARCH 13
8 “How shall I curse whom God has not 22 God brings them out of Egypt;
cursed? He has strength like a wild ox.
And how shall I denounce whom the 23 “For there is no sorcery against Jacob,
LORD has not denounced?
9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, Nor any divination against Israel.
And from the hills I behold him; It now must be said of Jacob
And of Israel, ‘Oh, what God has done!’
There! A people dwelling alone, 24 Look, a people rises like a lioness,
Not reckoning itself among the And lifts itself up like a lion;
nations.
It shall not lie down until it devours
10 “Who can count the dust of Jacob, the prey,
Or number one-fourth of Israel? And drinks the blood of the slain.”
Let me die the death of the righteous, 25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse
And let my end be like his!”
them at all, nor bless them at all!”
11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have 26 So Balaam answered and said to Balak,
you done to me? I took you to curse my ene- “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘All that the LORD
mies, and look, you have blessed them bounti- speaks, that I must do’?”
fully!” 27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I
12 So he answered and said, “Must I not take will take you to another place; perhaps it will
heed to speak what the LORD has put in my please God that you may curse them for me
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mouth?” from there.” So Balak took Balaam to the top
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13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with of Peor, that overlooks the wasteland. Then
me to another place from which you may see Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here
them; you shall see only the outer part of seven altars, and prepare for me here seven
them, and shall not see them all; curse them bulls and seven rams.” And Balak did as
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for me from there.” So he brought him to the Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram
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field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built on every altar.
seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on Now when Balaam saw that it pleased
each altar. 24 the LORD to bless Israel, he did not go as
15 And he said to Balak, “Stand here by your at other times, to seek to use sorcery, but he set
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burnt offering while I meet the LORD over his face toward the wilderness. And Balaam
there.” raised his eyes, and saw Israel encamped
16 Then the LORD met Balaam, and put a according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God
word in his mouth, and said, “Go back to came upon him.
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Balak, and thus you shall speak.” So he came
to him, and there he was, standing by his
burnt offering, and the princes of Moab were
with him. And Balak said to him, “What has 24:2 the Spirit of God came upon him. This
the LORD spoken?” terminology was regularly used in the Old
18 Then he took up his oracle and said:
Testament for those whom God uniquely pre-
“Rise up, Balak, and hear! pared to do His work (Judg. 3:10). Unlike the
Listen to me, son of Zippor! previous two oracles,Balaam does not involve
himself in divination before giving this third
19 “God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should oracle. He is empowered with the Holy Spirit
to utter God’s word accurately.
repent.
Has He said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not 3 Then he took up his oracle and said:
make it good?
20 Behold, I have received a command to “The utterance of Balaam the son of
bless; Beor,
He has blessed, and I cannot reverse The utterance of the man whose eyes
it. are opened,
4 The utterance of him who hears the
21 “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob,
words of God,
Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. Who sees the vision of the Almighty,
The LORD his God is with him, Who falls down, with eyes wide open:
And the shout of a King is among
them. 5 “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob!

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