1 Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bullocks and seven rams for me,"
2 Balak did just as Balaam had ordered and Balak and Balaam offered up a bullock and a ram on each altar.
3 Balaam said to Balak, "Stand here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps Yahweh will meet me and whatever he lets me see I will tell you." So he went to a barren hill.
4 God met Balaam who said, "I have prepared the seven altars and on each altar I have offered a bullock and a ram."
5 Yahweh then put a message on Balaam's lips and said, "Go back to Balak and give him this message."
6 Balaam returned and found Balak standing beside his offering, together with the leaders of Moab.
7 Then Balaam pronounced his oracle: "From Aram, Balak has brought me, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. 'Come, curse Jacob for me! Come, denounce Israel!
8 How can I curse him whom God has not cursed? How can I de-nounce him whom God has not denounced?
9 From the peak of the crags I see him, from the heights I behold him. I see a people that lives apart, a people different from all the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright and may my end be like theirs!"
11 Then Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my ene-mies and you have actually blessed them."
12 And Balaam answered, "Must I not take care to say what Yahweh puts on my lips?"
13 Balak said to him, "Come with me to another place where you will see them. You will not see all of them, only the tail end, and there you shall curse them for me."
14 So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah and built seven altars and offered a bullock and a ram on each altar.
15 Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here beside your burnt offering while I go and meet Yahweh over there."
16 Yahweh met Balaam and put words on his lips and said, "Go back to Balak and give him this message."
17 He returned and found Balak posted beside his burnt offering with the leaders of Moab. Balak asked, "What did Yahweh say?"
18 Balaam then pronounced his oracle, "Be ready to hear, Balak; listen to me, son of Zippor.
19 God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent. Has he said he will do something and will not do it? Has he promised something and not fulfilled it?
20 See, I have received a command to bless; when he has blessed I cannot change it.
21 He has not seen misfortune in Jacob or observed misery in Israel. Yahweh, their God is with them, and the shout of a king among them.
22 God has brought them out of Egypt; he is for them like the horns of a wild ox.
23 There are no diviners or magicians in Israel. But it shall be made known to them what God will do with them.
24 Behold a people that rises like a lioness, that rouses itself like a lion. It shall not lie down before it devours its prey and drinks the blood of its victims."
25 Balak said to Balaam, "Even though you cannot curse them, do not bless them."
26 But Balaam answered, "Did I not tell you that whatever Yahweh says, I will do?"
27 And Balak said to Balaam, "Come, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it is God's will that you curse them for me there."
28 Then Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks the wasteland,
29 and Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bullocks and seven rams."
30 Balak did just as Balaam ordered and offered a bullock and a ram on each altar.
Versículos relacionados com Numbers, 23:
Chapter 23 of the Book of Numbers deals with the attempt by King Moabita, Balaque, to curse the Israelites through the prophet Balaam, that God had prevented from doing this. The following verses are chosen based on the proximity of the chapter's themes and are related to God's blessing and protection over their people:
Psalm 3:8: "Save, Lord; for your faithful are lacking; for the children of men who remain firm are lacking." The psalmist calls for God for salvation and protection amid the scarcity of faithful. Just as the Israelites were blessed by God and protected from the Curse of Balaam, the faithful in Christ are also protected by God in the midst of adversity.
Psalm 5:11: "But all who trust in you are rejoiced, exult eternally, for you defend them; and in you those who love your name in you." This verse shows that those who trust God can rejoice and rejoice, for He defends them. Just as God defended the Israelites of the Curse of Balaam, He also defends and protects those who trust in Him.
Psalm 16:1: "Keep me, O God, because in you refuges me." The psalmist places his confidence in God as his source of refuge and protection. Similarly, the Israelites were blessed by God and protected from the Curse of Balaam for putting their trust in him.
Isaiah 54:17: "No weapon forged against you will prosper, and every language to rise against you in judgment, thou shalt condemn it; this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord and his righteousness that comes from me, says the Lord." This verse states that God protects his servants from every weapon and tongue that rises against them. Just as God protected the Israelites from Balaam's curse, He also protects their servants from all attacks of the enemy.
Jeremiah 17:7: "Blessed is the man who trusts the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord." This verse shows that God's blessing is upon those who trust in Him and wait for him. Similarly, the Israelites were blessed by God and protected from the Curse of Balaam for trusting him.
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