¹ And Balaam said to^▵ Balak, Build for me in this place seven altars, and prepare for me in this place seven bullocks and seven rams.

² And Balak did as^◦ Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered·​·up on^◦ every altar a bullock and a ram.

³ And Balaam said to Balak, Stand·​·forth over thy burnt·​·offering, and I will go; perhaps Jehovah will happen to meet me: and what word He shows me I will tell thee. And he went to a slope.

⁴ And God came^* to^▵ Balaam; and he said to^▵ Him, I have arranged seven altars, and I have offered·​·up on^◦ each altar a bullock and a ram.

⁵ And Jehovah set a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return to^▵ Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.

⁶ And he returned to^▵ him, and, behold, he stood^◦ over his burnt·​·offering, he^◦ and all the princes of Moab.

⁷ And he lifted up his enunciation, and said, Balak the king of Moab has led me from Syria, from the mountains of the east, saying, Go, curse Jacob for me, and go, have·​·indignation against Israel.

⁸ How shall I curse^▵, whom God^◦ has not cursed^▵? And how shall I be·​·indignant when Jehovah is· not ·indignant?

⁹ For from the head of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I observe^◦ him; behold, the people shall abide^◦ alone, and shall not be reckoned among^◦ the nations.

¹⁰ Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part^* of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the upright, and let my last be like^▵ his!

¹¹ And Balak said to^▵ Balaam, What hast thou done to me? I took thee to curse^▵ my enemies, and, behold, blessing thou hast blessed them.

¹² And he answered and said, Must I not keep to speaking that which Jehovah has set in my mouth?

¹³ And Balak said to^▵ him, Go, I pray^◦ thee, with^◦ me to^▵ another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see nothing but the edge of them, and shalt not see them all; and curse^▵ them for me from thence.

¹⁴ And he took him into the field of Zophim, to^▵ the head of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered·​·up a bullock and a ram on^◦ every altar.

¹⁵ And he said to^▵ Balak, Stand·​·forth here^▫ over thy burnt·​·offering, and there^▫ it will befall me^▵.

¹⁶ And Jehovah came^* to^▵ Balaam, and set a word in his mouth, and said, Return to^▵ Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.

¹⁷ And he came to^▵ him, and behold, he stood^◦ over his burnt·​·offering, and the princes of Moab with^◦ him. And Balak said to him, What has Jehovah spoken?

¹⁸ And he lifted·​·up his enunciation, and said, Rise·​·up, Balak, and hear; give·​·ear even·​·to me, thou son of Zippor;

¹⁹ God^◦ is not a man^◦, that He should lie^◦; neither^◦ a son of man, that He should repent Himself. Has He^◦ said, and shall He not do? And has He spoken, and shall He not secure^▵ it?

²⁰ Behold, a blessing I have received^◦, and He has blessed; and not turned· it ·back.

²¹ He has not looked on iniquity^◦ in Jacob, neither has He seen mischief^◦ in Israel; Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a king is in him.

²² God^◦ brought· them ·out from Egypt; he has^◦ as·​·it·​·were the powers^◦ of a unicorn.

²³ For there is no^◦ foretelling against^◦ Jacob, neither divination against^◦ Israel; according·​·to this time it shall be said of^◦ Jacob and of Israel, What has God^◦ worked!

²⁴ Behold, the people shall rise·​·up as an old·​·lion, and lift· himself ·up as a young^* lion; he shall not lie·​·down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

²⁵ And Balak said to^▵ Balaam, Even cursing^▵ thou shalt not curse^▵ them, even blessing shalt thou not bless them.

²⁶ But Balaam answered and said to^▵ Balak, Spoke I not to^▵ thee, saying, All that Jehovah speaks, it I will do?

²⁷ And Balak said to^▵ Balaam, Go, I pray^◦ thee, I will take thee to^▵ another place; perhaps it will be·​·upright in the eyes of God, and thou mayest curse^▵ them for me from thence.

²⁸ And Balak took Balaam to the head of Peor, that looks·​·out upon the faces of Jeshimon.

²⁹ And Balaam said to^▵ Balak, Build for me in this place seven altars, and prepare for me in this place seven bullocks and seven rams.

³⁰ And Balak did as^◦ Balaam had said, and offered·​·up a bullock and a ram on^◦ every altar.

¹ How has the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He has cast down from heaven to the earth the beauty of Israel, And hasn't remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.

² The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied: He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground; he has profaned the kingdom and its princes.

³ He has cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel; He has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy: He has burned up Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours all around.

⁴ He has bent his bow like an enemy, he has stood with his right hand as an adversary, Has killed all that were pleasant to the eye: In the tent of the daughter of Zion he has poured out his wrath like fire.

⁵ The Lord is become as an enemy, he has swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all her palaces, he has destroyed his strongholds; He has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

⁶ He has violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden; he has destroyed his place of assembly: Yahweh has caused solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion, Has despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.

⁷ The Lord has cast off his altar, he has abhorred his sanctuary; He has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces: They have made a noise in the house of Yahweh, as in the day of a solemn assembly.

⁸ Yahweh has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He has stretched out the line, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying; He has made the rampart and wall to lament; they languish together.

⁹ Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars: Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not; Yes, her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.

¹⁰ The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, they keep silence; They have cast up dust on their heads; they have clothed themselves with sackcloth: The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

¹¹ My eyes do fail with tears, my heart is troubled; My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.

¹² They tell their mothers, Where is grain and wine? When they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city, When their soul is poured out into their mothers' bosom.

¹³ What shall I testify to you? what shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is great like the sea: who can heal you?

¹⁴ Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish visions; They have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captivity, but have seen for you false oracles and causes of banishment.

¹⁵ All that pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, [saying], Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?

¹⁶ All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you; They hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed her up; Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.

¹⁷ Yahweh has done that which he purposed; he has fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old; He has thrown down, and has not pitied: He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you; he has exalted the horn of your adversaries.

¹⁸ Their heart cried to the Lord: wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no respite; don't let the apple of your eye cease.

¹⁹ Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord: Lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children, that faint for hunger at the head of every street.

²⁰ Look, Yahweh, and see to whom you have done thus! Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹ The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; My virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: You have killed them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered, [and] not pitied.

²² You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side; There was none that escaped or remained in the day of Yahweh's anger: Those that I have dandled and brought up has my enemy consumed.