Balaam uttered this prophecy: "Balak king of Moab has brought me From Syria, from the eastern mountains. 'Come speak for me,' he said. 'Put a curse on the people of Israel.'

How can I curse what God has not cursed, Or speak of doom when the LORD has not?

The nation is like a mighty lion; When it is sleeping, no one dares wake it. Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, And whoever curses Israel will be cursed."

I will bless those who bless you, But I will curse those who curse you. And through you I will bless all the nations."

May nations be your servants, and may peoples bow down before you. May you rule over all your relatives, and may your mother's descendants bow down before you. May those who curse you be cursed, and may those who bless you be blessed."

They refused to provide you with food and water when you were on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor, from the city of Pethor in Mesopotamia, to curse you.

Then the king of Moab, Balak son of Zippor, fought against you. He sent word to Balaam son of Beor and asked him to put a curse on you.

He said to David, "What's that stick for? Do you think I'm a dog?" And he called down curses from his god on David.

This was because the people of Ammon and Moab did not give food and water to the Israelites on their way out of Egypt. Instead, they paid money to Balaam to curse Israel, but our God turned the curse into a blessing.

He loved to curse---may he be cursed! He hated to give blessings---may no one bless him!

He cursed as naturally as he dressed himself; may his own curses soak into his body like water and into his bones like oil!

So Ahab called in the prophets, about four hundred of them, and asked them, "Should I go and attack Ramoth, or not?" "Attack it," they answered. "The Lord will give you victory."

Ahab answered, "There is one more, Micaiah son of Imlah. But I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me; it's always something bad." "You shouldn't say that!" Jehoshaphat replied.

Meanwhile, the official who had gone to get Micaiah said to him, "All the other prophets have prophesied success for the king, and you had better do the same."

They may curse me, but you will bless me. May my persecutors be defeated, and may I, your servant, be glad.

Curses cannot hurt you unless you deserve them. They are like birds that fly by and never light.

Keep all your magic spells and charms; you have used them since you were young. Perhaps they will be of some help to you; perhaps you can frighten your enemies.

You are powerless in spite of the advice you get. Let your astrologers come forward and save you--- those people who study the stars, who map out the zones of the heavens and tell you from month to month what is going to happen to you.

Their visions are false, and their predictions are lies. They claim that they are speaking my message, but I have not sent them. Yet they expect their words to come true!

A man named Simon lived there, who for some time had astounded the Samaritans with his magic. He claimed that he was someone great,

and everyone in the city, from all classes of society, paid close attention to him. "He is that power of God known as 'The Great Power,' " they said.

One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a young servant woman who had an evil spirit that enabled her to predict the future. She earned a lot of money for her owners by telling fortunes.