1. And Bil‛am said to Balaq, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
2. And Balaq did as Bil‛am had spoken, and Balaq and Bil‛am offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
3. Bil‛am then said to Balaq, “Stand by your burnt offering, and let me go on. It might be that יהוה does come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I shall declare to you.” And he went to a bare height.
4. And Elohim came to Bil‛am, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”
5. And יהוה put a word in the mouth of Bil‛am, and said, “Return to Balaq, and this is what you say.”
6. And he returned to him and saw him standing by his burnt offering, he and all the heads of Mo’aḇ.
7. And he took up his proverb and said, “Balaq the sovereign of Mo’aḇ has brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east. ‘Come, curse Ya‛aqoḇ for me, and come, rage at Yisra’ĕl!’
8. “How do I curse whom Ěl has not cursed? And how do I rage at whom יהוה has not raged?
9. “For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I observe him. Look, a people dwelling alone, not reckoning itself among the nations.
10. “Who shall count the dust of Ya‛aqoḇ, and the number of one-fourth of Yisra’ĕl? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!”
11. And Balaq said to Bil‛am, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have kept on blessing!”