8. "How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
9. "As I see him from the top of the rocks, And I look at him from the hills; Behold, a people who dwells apart, And will not be reckoned among the nations.
10. "Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, And let my end be like his!"
11. Then Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have actually blessed them!"
12. He replied, "Must I not be careful to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?"
13. Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there."
14. So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
15. And he said to Balak, "Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet the Lord over there."
16. Then the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak."
17. He came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, "What has the Lord spoken?"
18. Then he took up his discourse and said, "Arise, O Balak, and hear; Give ear to me, O son of Zippor!
19. "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
20. "Behold, I have received a command to bless; When He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it.