Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here beside your offering. I'll go and try to find out what the Lord wants me to do. Maybe he'll come and meet with me. Then I'll tell you what he says to me." So Balaam went off to a bare hilltop.
Then Balaam spoke the message he had received from God. He said, "Balak brought me from the land of Aram. The king of Moab sent for me from the mountains in the east. 'Come,' he said. 'Put a curse on Jacob's people for me. Come. Speak against Israel.'
I see them from the rocky peaks. I view them from the hills. I see a group of people who live by themselves. They don't consider themselves to be one of the nations.
Jacob's people are like the dust of the earth. Can dust be counted? Who can count even a fourth of the people of Israel? Let me die as godly people die. Let my death be like theirs!"
Then Balak said to Balaam, "Come with me to another place. You can see the people of Israel from there. You will see only some of them. You won't see all of them. From there, put a curse on them for me."
So Balak took Balaam to the field of Zophim. It was on the highest slopes of Pisgah. There he built seven altars. He offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
God isn't a mere man. He can't lie. He isn't a human being. He doesn't change his mind. He speaks, and then he acts. He makes a promise, and then he keeps it.
"I don't see any trouble coming on the people of Jacob. I don't see any suffering in Israel. The Lord their God is with them. The shout of the King is among them.
There isn't any magic that can hurt the people of Jacob. No one can use magic words to harm Israel. Here is what will be said about the people of Jacob. Here is what will be said about Israel. People will say, 'See what God has done!'
The people of Israel are going to wake up like a female lion. They are going to get up like a male lion. They are like a lion that won't rest until it eats what it has caught. They are like a lion that won't rest until it drinks the blood of what it has killed."