⁴ The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “Now this assembly will devour everything around us, as an ox eats up the grass in the field.”

Balak, Zippor’s son, was king of Moab at that time. ⁵ He sent messengers to Balaam, Beor’s son, at Pethor, which is by the river in the land of his people,^[a] to summon him: “A people has come out of Egypt, and they have now covered the land. They have settled next to me. ⁶ Now please come and curse this people for me because they are stronger than I am. Perhaps I’ll be able to destroy them and drive them from the land, for I know that whomever you bless is blessed and whomever you curse is cursed.”