Numbers 23:7-15

⁷And he took up his parable, and said: Balak, king of Moab, hath brought me from Aram, From the mountains of the east: Come, curse me, Jakob, Come, hunt down Israel for me.

⁸How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? How shall I persecute whom God hath not?

⁹For from the top of the mountain I discern him, And look upon him from the heights; Lo, the people by themselves are to possess the world, And among the nations they shall not be judged with consumption.

¹⁰Who can number the dust of the house of Jakob, Of whom it is said, They shall increase as the dust of the earth, Or of one of the four camps of Israel? Let mine be the death of his truthful ones, And let my end be as theirs!

¹¹And Balak said to Bileam, What hast thou done to me? I brought thee to curse my enemies, and, behold, blessing hast thou blessed them.

¹²But he said, That which the Lord hath put in my mouth must I not observe to speak?

¹³And Balak said to him, Come now with me to another place, from whence thou mayest see him, where thou canst see only the outer side, but not the whole, and curse him for me from thence.

¹⁴And he brought him to the field of the watch-tower on the top of the hill; and builded seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.

¹⁵And he said to Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, and I will go yonder.