23:4 Then God met Balaam, who ⁷  said to him, “I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 23:5 Then the Lord put a message ⁸  in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.” ⁹ 

23:6 So he returned to him, and he was still ¹⁰  standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab. 23:7 Then Balaam ¹¹  uttered ¹²  his oracle, saying,

“Balak, the king of Moab, brought me ¹³  from Aram,

out of the mountains of the east, saying,

‘Come, pronounce a curse on Jacob for me;

come, denounce Israel.’ ¹⁴ 

23:8 How ¹⁵  can I curse ¹⁶  one whom God has not cursed,

or how can I denounce one whom the Lord has not denounced?

23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see them; ¹⁷ 

from the hills I watch them. ¹⁸ 

Indeed, a nation that lives alone,

and it will not be reckoned ¹⁹  among the nations.

23:10 Who ²⁰  can count ²¹  the dust ²²  of Jacob,

Or number ²³  the fourth part of Israel?

Let me ²⁴  die the death of the upright, ²⁵ 

and let the end of my life ²⁶  be like theirs.” ²⁷ 

23:11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but on the contrary ²⁸  you have only blessed them!” ²⁹  23:12 Balaam replied, ³⁰  “Must I not be careful ³¹  to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?” ³²