Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here near this altar. I will go to another place. Then the Lord will come to me, and he will tell me what I must say." Then Balaam went away to a higher place.
Then Balaam said this: Balak, the king of Moab, brought me here from the eastern mountains of Aram. Balak said to me, "Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, speak against the Israelites."
But God is not against them, so I cannot speak against them either! The Lord has not asked for bad things to happen to these people. So I cannot do that either.
Who can count Jacob's people? They are as many as the grains of dust. No one can count even a fourth of the Israelites. Let me die like a good man. Let my life end as happy as theirs!
Then Balak said to him, "So come with me to another place. At that place you can see more of these people. You cannot see all of them—you can only see part of them. Maybe from that place you can curse them for me."
So Balak led Balaam to Watchmen Hills. This was on top of Mount Pisgah. There Balak built seven altars and killed a bull and a ram on each altar as a sacrifice.
So Balaam went to Balak. Balak was still standing near the altar. The leaders of Moab were there with him. Balak saw Balaam coming and said, "What did the Lord say?"
God is not a man; he will not lie. God is not a human being; his decisions will not change. If he says he will do something, then he will do it. If he makes a promise, then he will do what he promised.
There is no power that can defeat the people of Jacob. There is no magic that can stop the Israelites. People will say this about Jacob and the Israelites: 'Look at the great things God did!'
The people are as strong as lions, and they fight like lions. And a lion will not rest until it eats what it has caught, until it drinks the blood of what it has killed."