Numbers 23:7-18

7Then Balaam spoke his message: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel.’

8How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?

9From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations.

10Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my final end be like theirs!”

11Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”

12He answered, “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

13Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp. And from there, curse them for me.”

14So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

15Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.”

16The Lord met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”

17So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials. Balak asked him, “What did the Lord say?”

18Then he spoke his message: “Arise, Balak, and listen; hear me, son of Zippor.