“From ^(B)Aram Balak has brought me,
    the king of Moab ^(C)from the eastern mountains:
‘Come, ^(D)curse Jacob for me,
    and come, denounce Israel!’
⁸ How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
    How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
⁹ For from the top of the crags ^(E)I see him,
    from the hills I behold him;
behold, ^(F)a people dwelling alone,
    and ^(G)not counting itself among the nations!
^10 (H)Who can count the dust of Jacob
    or number the fourth part^[a] of Israel?
Let me die ^(I)the death of the upright,
    and let my end be like his!”

“Rise, Balak, and hear;
    give ear to me, O son of Zippor:
^19 (A)God is not man, that he should lie,
    or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
    Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
²⁰ Behold, I received a command to bless:
    ^(B)he has blessed, and ^(C)I cannot revoke it.
^21 (D)He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob,
    nor has he seen trouble in Israel.
The Lord their God is with them,
    and the shout of a king is among them.
^22 (E)God brings them out of Egypt
    and is for them like ^(F)the horns of the wild ox.
²³ For there is no enchantment against Jacob,
    no ^(G)divination against Israel;
now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,
    ^(H)‘What has God wrought!’
²⁴ Behold, a people! ^(I)As a lioness it rises up
    and as a lion it lifts itself;
^(J)it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey
    and drunk the blood of the slain.”