¶The .xxiij. Chapter.
1 Balaam causeth Balac to buylde aulters. 9 Balaam blesseth the people.
[unspec A] 1 AND Balaam said vn∣to Balac: Buylde me here seuen aulters, & prepare me here seuen oxen & seuen rammes.
2 And Balac dyd as Balaam sayde: And Balac and Balaam offred on euery aul∣ter an oxe and a ramme.
3 And Balaam said vnto Balac: Stand by thy sacrifice, and I will go, if happly the Lorde will meete me: and whatso∣euer he sheweth me, I wyll tell thee. And he went vp hyer.
4 But God met Balaam, & [Balaam] sayd vnto hym: I haue prepared seuen aulters, and haue offred vpon euery aulter an oxe and a ramme.
5 And the Lorde put a saying in Bala∣ams mouth, and sayde: Go agayne to Balac, and say on this wyse.
6 And when he went agayne vnto him, lo, he stoode by his burnt sacrifice, he and all the lordes of Moab.
7 And he toke vp his parable, and sayd: [unspec B] * 1.1Balac the king of Moab hath brought me frō Mesopotamia, out of the moun∣taynes of the east, [saying] Come, curse Iacob for my sake, come and defie Israel.
8 Howe shall I curse hym, whom God hath not cursed? or howe shall I defie hym, whom God hath not defied?
9 For from the toppe of the rockes I see hym, and from the hylles I beholde hym: lo, the people shall dwell by them selues, and shal not be reckened among the nations.
10 Who can tell the(a) 1.2 dust of Iacob, and the number of the fourth part of Isra∣el? I pray God that my soule may dye the death of the righteous, and that my last ende may be like his.
11 And Balac sayd vnto Balaam: What hast thou done vnto me? I toke thee to curse myne enemies, and beholde thou hast blessed them altogether.
12 He aunswered and sayd: Must I not take heede to speake that whiche the lorde hath put in my mouth?
13 And Balac sayde vnto hym: Come I pray thee with me vnto another place, whence thou mayest see them, and thou shalt see but the vtmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: curse them out of that place for my sake.
14 And he brought hym into a fielde, [unspec C] where men myght see farre of, euen to the toppe of an hyll, and buylt seuen aulters, and offred an oxe and a ramme on euery aulter.
15 And he said vnto Balac: Stande here by thy burnt sacrifice, whyle I meete [the Lorde] yonder.
16 And the Lord met Balaam, and* 1.3 put a worde in his mouth, and sayd: Go a∣gayne vnto Balac, and say thus.
17 And when he came to hym, beholde he stoode by his burnt sacrifice, and the lordes of Moab with hym. And Balac saide vnto hym: What hath the Lorde sayde?
18 And he toke vp his parable, and aun∣swered: Rise vp Balac, and heare, and hearkē vnto me thou sonne of Ziphor.
19 * 1.4God is not a man that he should lye, neither the sonne of a mā that he should repent: should he say & not do? or should he speake, and not make it good?
20 Beholde, I haue taken vpon me to blesse: for he hath blessed, and it is not in my power to aulter it.