Scriptures

New Living Translation (NLT)

Numbers 22
⁶ Please come and curse these people for me because they are too powerful for me. Then perhaps I will be able to conquer them and drive them from the land. I know that blessings fall on any people you bless, and curses fall on people you curse.”
⁷ Balak’s messengers, who were elders of Moab and Midian, set out with money to pay Balaam to place a curse upon Israel. They went to Balaam and delivered Balak’s message to him.
⁸ “Stay here overnight,” Balaam said. “In the morning I will tell you whatever the LORD directs me to say.” So the officials from Moab stayed there with Balaam.
⁹ That night God came to Balaam and asked him, “Who are these men visiting you?”
¹⁰ Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent me this message:
¹¹ ‘Look, a vast horde of people has arrived from Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth. Come and curse these people for me. Then perhaps I will be able to stand up to them and drive them from the land.’”
¹² But God told Balaam, “Do not go with them. You are not to curse these people, for they have been blessed!”
¹³ The next morning Balaam got up and told Balak’s officials, “Go on home! The LORD will not let me go with you.”
¹⁴ So the Moabite officials returned to King Balak and reported, “Balaam refused to come with us.”
¹⁵ Then Balak tried again. This time he sent a larger number of even more distinguished officials than those he had sent the first time.
¹⁶ They went to Balaam and delivered this message to him: “This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Please don’t let anything stop you from coming to help me.