C. S. Lewis Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Клайв Стейплз Льюис

have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now therefore, if it is displeasing to you, I will return home.” ³⁵The angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men; but speak only what I tell you to speak.” So Balaam went on with the officials of Balak.

      For reflection: Numbers 22:24–31

      One must take comfort in remembering that God used an ass to convert the prophet: perhaps if we do our poor best we shall be allowed a stall near it in the celestial stable . . . !

      —from a letter to Sister Penelope CSMV, May 15, 1941

      36 When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at Ir-moab, on the boundary formed by the Arnon, at the farthest point of the boundary. ³⁷Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send to summon you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you?” ³⁸Balaam said to Balak, “I have come to you now, but do I have power to say just anything? The word God puts in my mouth, that is what I must say.” ³⁹Then Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. ⁴⁰Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent them to Balaam and to the officials who were with him.

      41 On the next day Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal; and from there

23 he could see part of the people of Israel.[53] ¹Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” ²Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ³Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offerings while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height.

4 Then God met Balaam; and Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars, and have offered a bull and a ram on each altar.” ⁵The LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and this is what you must say.” ⁶So he returned to Balak,[54] who was standing beside his burnt offerings with all the officials of Moab. ⁷Then Balaam[55] uttered his oracle, saying:

      “Balak has brought me from Aram,

      the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:

      ‘Come, curse Jacob for me;

      Come, denounce Israel!’

       ⁸ How can I curse whom God has not cursed?

      How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?

       ⁹ For from the top of the crags I see him,

      from the hills I behold him.

      Here is a people living alone,

      and not reckoning itself among the nations!

      ¹⁰ Who can count the dust of Jacob,

or number the dust-cloud[56] of Israel?

      Let me die the death of the upright,

      and let my end be like his!”

      11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them.” ¹²He answered, “Must I not take care to say what the LORD puts into my mouth?”

      13 So Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only part of them, and shall not see them all; then curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah. He built seven altars, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ¹⁵Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offerings, while I meet the LORD over there.” ¹⁶The LORD met Balaam, put a word into his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and this is what you shall say.” ¹⁷When he came to him, he was standing beside his burnt offerings with the officials of Moab. Balak said to him, “What has the LORD said?” ¹⁸Then Balaam uttered his oracle, saying:

      “Rise, Balak, and hear;

      listen to me, O son of Zippor:

      ¹⁹ God is not a human being, that he should lie,

      or a mortal, that he should change his mind.

      Has he promised, and will he not do it?

      Has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

      ²⁰ See, I received a command to bless;

      he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.

      ²¹ He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob;

      nor has he seen trouble in Israel.

      The LORD their God is with them,

      acclaimed as a king among them.

      ²² God, who brings them out of Egypt,

      is like the horns of a wild ox for them.

      ²³ Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob,

      no divination against Israel;

      now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,

      ‘See what God has done!’

      ²⁴ Look, a people rising up like a lioness,

      and rousing itself like a lion!

      It does not lie down until it has eaten the prey

      and drunk the blood of the slain.”

      25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.” ²⁶But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘Whatever the LORD says, that is what I must do’?”

27 So Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” ²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.[57] ²⁹Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” ³⁰So Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

24 Now Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, so he did not go, as at other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness. ²Balaam looked up and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. Then the spirit of God came upon him, ³and he uttered his oracle, saying:

      “The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,

the oracle of the man whose eye is clear,[58]

       ⁴ the oracle of one who hears the words of God,

who sees the vision of the Almighty,[59]

      who falls down, but with eyes uncovered:

       ⁵ how fair are your tents, O Jacob,

      your encampments, O Israel!

       ⁶ Like palm groves that stretch far away,

      like gardens beside a river,

      like aloes that the LORD has planted,

      like cedar trees beside the waters.

       ⁷ Water shall flow from his buckets,

      and his seed shall have abundant