Page 196 - bible

190 Book of Numbers

a ram upon every altar. 14 And when he had brought him to a high
3 And Balaam said to Balac: Stand a while by place, upon the top of mount Phasga, Balaam
thy burnt offering, until I go, to see if perhaps built seven altars, and laying on every one a calf
the Lord will meet me, and whatsoever he shall and a ram,
command, I will speak to thee. 15 He said to Balac: Stand here by thy burnt
4 And when he was gone with speed, God met offering while I go to meet him.
him. And Balaam speaking to him, said: I have 16 And when the Lord had met him, and had
erected seven altars, and have laid on everyone put the word in his mouth, he said: Return to
a calf and a ram. Balac, and thus shalt thou say to him.
5 And the Lord put the word in his mouth, 17 Returning he found him standing by his
and said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou burnt sacrifice, and the princes of the Moabites
speak. with him. And Balac said to him: What hath
6 Returning he found Balac standing by the Lord spoken?
his burnt offering, with all the princes of the
18 But he taking up his parable, said: Stand,
Moabites:
O Balac, and give ear: hear, thou son of Sephor:
7 And taking up his parable, he said: Balac
19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor
king of the Moabites hath brought me from
is the son of man, that he should be changed.
Aram, from the mountains of the east: Come,
Hath he said then, and will he not do? hath he
said he, and curse Jacob: make haste and detest
spoken, and will he not fulfil?
Israel.
20 I was brought to bless, the blessing I am
8 How shall I curse him, whom God hath not
not able to hinder.
cursed? By what means should I detest him,
21 There is no idol in Jacob, neither is there
whom the Lord detesteth not?
an image god to be seen in Israel. The Lord his
9 I shall see him from the tops of the rocks,
God is with him, and the sound of the victory of
and shall consider him from the hills. This peo-
the king in him.
ple shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned
22 God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose
among the nations.
strength is like to the rhinoceros.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, and know
the number of the stock of Israel? Let my soul 23 There is no soothsaying in Jacob, nor div-
die the death of the just, and my last end be like ination in Israel. In their times it shall be told
to them. to Jacob and to Israel what God hath wrought.
11 And Balac said to Balaam: What is this 24 Behold the people shall rise up as a lioness,
that thou dost? I sent for thee to curse my ene- and shall lift itself up as a lion: it shall not lie
mies: and thou contrariwise blessest them. down till it devour the prey, and drink the blood
12 He answered him: Can I speak any thing of the slain.
else but what the Lord commandeth? 25 And Balac said to Balaam: Neither curse,
13 Balac therefore said: Come with me to an- nor bless him.
other place from whence thou mayest see part of 26 And he said: Did I not tell thee, that what-
Israel, and canst not see them all: curse them soever God should command me, that I would
from thence. do?