5 The Lord put an utterance in Balaam’s mouth, and said: Go back to Balak, and speak accordingly.
6 So he went back to Balak, who was still standing by his burnt offering together with all the princes of Moab.
7 Then Balaam recited his poem:From Aram Balak has led me here,Moab’s king, from the mountains of Qedem:“Come, curse for me Jacob,come, denounce Israel.”
8 How can I lay a curse on the one whom God has not cursed?How denounce the one whom the Lord has not denounced?
9 For from the top of the crags I see him,from the heights I behold him.Here is a people that lives apartand does not reckon itself among the nations.
10 Who has ever counted the dust of Jacob,who numbered Israel’s dust-cloud?May I die the death of the just,may my end be like theirs!
11 “What have you done to me?” cried Balak to Balaam. “It was to lay a curse on my foes that I brought you here; but instead, you have blessed them!”