Numbers 23:7-17

⁷And he took up his parable, and said, Balac king of Moab sent for me out of Mesopotamia, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and Come, call for a curse for me upon Israel.

⁸How can I curse whom the Lord curses not? or how can I devote whom God devotes not?

⁹For from the top of the mountains I shall see him, and from the hills I shall observe him: behold, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

¹⁰Who has exactly calculated the seed of Jacob, and who shall number the families of Israel? let my soul die with the souls of the righteous, and let my seed be as their seed.

¹¹And Balac said to Balaam, What hast thou done to me? I called thee to curse my enemies, and behold thou hast greatly blessed them.

¹²And Balaam said to Balac, Whatsoever the Lord shall put into my mouth, shall I not take heed to speak this?

¹³And Balac said to him, Come yet with me to another place where thou shalt not see the people, but only thou shalt see a part of them, and shalt not see them all; and curse me them from thence.

¹⁴And he took him to a high place of the field to the top of the quarried rock, and he built there seven altars, and offered a calf and a ram on every altar.

¹⁵And Balaam said to Balac, Stand by thy sacrifice, and I will go to enquire of God.

¹⁶And God met Balaam, and put a word into his mouth, and said, Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou speak.

¹⁷And he returned to him: and he also was standing by his whole-burnt-sacrifice, and all the princes of Moab with him; and Balac said to him, What has the Lord spoken?