1. Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”
2. Balak did what Balaam told him, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
3. Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I’m gone. Maybe the Lord will come and meet with me. I will tell you whatever he reveals to me.” Then Balaam went off to a higher place where there were no trees.
4. God came to him, and Balaam said, “I have set up seven altars, and I offered a bull and a ram on each altar.”
5. The Lord told Balaam, “Go back to Balak, and give him my message.”
6. So he went back to Balak and found him standing beside his burnt offering with all the princes of Moab.
7. Then Balaam delivered this message:“Balak brought me from Aram.The king of Moab summoned me from the eastern mountains.‘Come, curse Jacob for me,’ he said.‘Come, condemn Israel.’
8. How can I curse those whom God hasn’t cursed?How can I condemn those whom the Lord hasn’t condemned?