Numbers 23:3-12 Then Balaam said to Balak: »Stand here by your burnt offering. I will go to see whether or not Jehovah will meet me. I will tell you what he reveals to me.« So he went alone to the top of a hill.

NSB⁽ⁱ⁾ ³ Then Balaam said to Balak: »Stand here by your burnt offering. I will go to see whether or not Jehovah will meet me. I will tell you what he reveals to me.« So he went alone to the top of a hill. ⁴ God met him and Balaam said to God: »I have built the seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each.« ⁵ Jehovah told Balaam: »Go back to Balak and give him my message.« ⁶ He went back to Balak and found him standing beside his burnt offering with all the princes of Moab. ⁷ Balaam delivered this message: »Balak brought me from Aram. The king of Moab summoned me from the eastern mountains. Come and curse Jacob for me,« he said. ‘Come and condemn Israel. ⁸ »‘How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I condemn those whom Jehovah has not condemned? ⁹ »‘I see them from the top of rocky cliffs. I look at them from the hills. I see a nation that lives by itself! These are people who do not consider themselves to be like other nations. ¹⁰ »‘The descendants of Jacob are like specks of dust. Who can count them or number even one-fourth of the people of Israel? Let me die the death of innocent people. Let my end be like theirs.’« ¹¹ Balak responded to Balaam: »What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, but all you have done is bless them!« ¹² Balaam answered: »I must say what Jehovah tells me to say.«