Numbers 22-23
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
1 And they went forward and encamped in the plains of Moab, over against where Jericho is situate beyond the Jordan.

2 And Balac the son of Sephor, seeing all that Israel had done to the Amorrhite,

3 And that the Moabites were in great fear of him, and were not able to sustain his assault,

4 He said to the elders of Madian: So will this people destroy all that dwell in our borders, as the ox is wont to eat the grass to the very roots. Now he was at that time king in Moab.

5 He sent therefore messengers to Balaam the son of Beer, a soothsayer, who dwelt by the river of the land of the children of Ammon, to call him, and to say: Behold a people is come out of Egypt, that hath covered the face of the earth, sitting over against me.

6 Come therefore, and curse this people, because it is mightier than I: if by any means I may beat them and drive them out of my land: for I know that he whom thou shalt bless is blessed, and he whom thou shalt curse is cursed.

7 And the ancients of Moab, and the elders of Madian, went with the price of divination in their hands. And when they were come to Balaam, and had told him all the words of Balac:

8 He answered: Tarry here this night, and I will answer whatsoever the Lord shall say to me. And while they stayed with Balaam, God came and said to him:

9 What mean these men that are with thee?

10 He answered: Balac the son of Sephor king of the Moabites hath sent to me,

11 Saying: Behold a people that is come out of Egypt, hath covered the face of the land: come and curse them, if by any means I may fight with them and drive them away.

12 And God said to Balaam: Thou shalt not go with them, nor shalt thou curse the people: because it is blessed.

13 And he rose in the morning and said to the princes: Go into your country, because the Lord hath forbid me to come with you.

14 The princes returning, said to Balac: Balaam would not come with us.

15 Then he sent many more and more noble than he had sent before:

16 Who, when they were come to Balaam, said: Thus saith Balac the son of Sephor, Delay not to come to me:

17 For I am ready to honour thee, and will give thee whatsoever thou wilt: come and curse this people.

18 Balaam answered: If Balac would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot alter the word of the Lord my God, to speak either more or less.

19 I pray you to stay here this night also, that I may know what the Lord will answer me once more.

20 God therefore came to Balaam in the night, and said to him: It these men be come to call thee, arise and go with them: yet so, that thou do what I shall command thee.

21 Balaam arose in the morning, and saddling his ass went with them.

22 And God was angry. And an angel of the Lord stood in the way against Balaam, who sat on the ass, and had two servants with him.

23 The ass seeing the angel standing in the way, with a drawn sword, turned herself out of the way, and went into the field. And when Balaam beat her, and had a mind to bring her again to the way,

24 The angel stood in a narrow place between two walls, wherewith the vineyards were enclosed.

25 And the ass seeing him, thrust herself close to the wall, and bruised the foot of the rider. But he beat her again:

26 And nevertheless the angel going on to a narrow place, where there was no way to turn aside either to the right hand or to the left, stood to meet him.

27 And when the ass saw the angel standing, she fell under the feet of the rider: who being angry beat her sides more vehemently with a staff.

28 And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said: What have I done to thee? Why strikest thou me, lo, now this third time?

29 Balaam answered: Because thou hast deserved it, and hast served me ill: I would I had a sword that I might kill thee.

30 The ass said: Am not I thy beast, on which thou hast been always accustomed to ride until this present day? tell me if I ever did the like thing to thee. But he said: Never.

31 Forthwith the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel standing in the way with a drawn sword, and he worshipped him falling flat on the ground.

32 And the angel said to him: Why beatest thou thy ass these three times? I am come to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse, and contrary to me:

33 And unless the ass had turned out of the way, giving place to me who stood against thee, I had slain thee, and she should have lived.

34 Balaam said: I have sinned, not knowing that thou didst stand against me: and now if it displease thee that I go, I will return.

35 The angel said: Go with these men, and see thou speak no other thing than what I shall command thee. He went therefore with the princes.

36 And when Balac heard it he came forth to meet him in a town of the Moabites, that is situate in the uttermost borders of Arnon.

37 And he said to Balaam: I sent messengers to call thee, why didst thou not come immediately to me? was it because I am not able to reward thy coming?

38 He answered him: Lo, here I am: shall I have power to speak any other thing but that which God shall put in my mouth?

39 So they went on together, and came into a city, that was in the uttermost borders of his kingdom.

40 And when Balac had killed oxen and sheep, he sent presents to Balaam, and to the princes that were with him.

41 And when morning was come, he brought him to the high places of Baal, and he beheld the uttermost part of the people.

23 And Balaam said to Balac: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.

2 And when he had done according to the word of Balaam, they laid together a calf and a ram upon every altar.

3 And Balaam said to Balac: Stand a while by thy burnt offering, until I go, to see if perhaps the Lord will meet me, and whatsoever he shall command, I will speak to thee.

4 And when he was gone with speed, God met him. And Balaam speaking to him, said: I have erected seven altars, and have laid on everyone a calf and a ram.

5 And the Lord put the word in his mouth, and said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou speak.

6 Returning he found Balac standing by his burnt offering, with all the princes of the Moabites:

7 And taking up his parable, he said: Balac king of the Moabites hath brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east: Come, said he, and curse Jacob: make haste and detest Israel.

8 How shall I curse him, whom God hath not cursed? By what means should I detest him, whom the Lord detesteth not?

9 I shall see him from the tops of the rocks, and shall consider him from the hills. This people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, and know the number of the stock of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the just, and my last end be like to them.

11 And Balac said to Balaam: What is this that thou dost? I sent for thee to curse my enemies: and thou contrariwise blessest them.

12 He answered him: Call I speak any thing else but what the Lord commandeth?

13 Balac therefore said: Come with me to another place from whence thou mayest see part of Israel, and canst not see them all: curse them from thence.

14 And when he had brought him to a high place, upon the top of mount Phasga, Balaam built seven altars, and laying on every one a calf and a ram,

15 He said to Balac: Stand here by thy burnt offering while I go to meet him.

16 And when the Lord had met him, and had put the word in his mouth, he said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou say to him.

17 Returning he found him standing by his burnt sacrifice, and the princes of the Moabites with him. And Balac said to him: What hath the Lord spoken?

18 But he taking up his parable, said: Stand, O Balac, and give ear: hear, thou son of Sephor:

19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said then, and will he not do? hath he spoken, and will he not fulfill?

20 I was brought to bless, the blessing I am not able to hinder.

21 There is no idol in Jacob, neither is there an image god to be seen in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the sound of the victory of the king in him.

22 God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros.

23 There is no soothsaying in Jacob, nor divination in Israel. In their times it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God hath wrought.

24 Behold the people shall rise up as a lioness, and shall lift itself up as a lion: it shall not lie down till it devour the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

25 And Balac said to Balaam: Neither curse, nor bless him.

26 And he said: Did I not tell thee, that whatsoever God should command me, that I would do?

27 And Balac said to him: Come and I will bring thee to another place; if peradventure it please God that thou mayest curse them from thence.

28 And when he had brought him upon the top of mount Phogor, which looketh towards the wilderness,

29 Balaam said to him: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.

30 Balac did as Balaam had said: and he laid on every altar, a calf and a ram.

Psalm 80 (81)
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
1 Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for Asaph himself.

2 Rejoice to God our helper: sing aloud to the God of Jacob.

3 Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel: the pleasant psaltery with the harp.

4 Blow up the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your solemnity.

5 For it is a commandment in Israel, and a judgment to the God of Jacob.

6 He ordained it for a testimony in Joseph, when he came out of the land of Egypt: he heard a tongue which he knew not.

7 He removed his back from the burdens: his hands had served in baskets.

8 Thou calledst upon me in affliction, and I delivered thee: I heard thee in the secret place of tempest: I proved thee at the waters of contradiction.

9 Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken to me,

10 There shall be no new god in thee: neither shalt thou adore a strange god.

11 For I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

12 But my people heard not my voice: and Israel hearkened not to me.

13 So I let them go according to the desires of their heart: they shall walk in their own inventions.

14 If my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways:

15 I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on them that troubled them.

16 The enemies of the Lord have lied to him: and their time shall be for ever.

17 And he fed them with the fat of wheat, and filled them with honey out of the rock.

Acts 15:22-41
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
22 Then it pleased the apostles and ancients, with the whole church, to choose men of their own company, and to send to Antioch, with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas, who was surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren.

23 Writing by their hands: The apostles and ancients, brethren, to the brethren of the Gentiles that are at Antioch, and in Syria and Cilicia, greeting.

24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that some going out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls; to whom we gave no commandment:

25 It hath seemed good to us, being assembled together, to choose out men, and to send them unto you, with our well beloved Barnabas and Paul:

26 Men that have given their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who themselves also will, by word of mouth, tell you the same things.

28 For it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay no further burden upon you than these necessary things:

29 That you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which things keeping yourselves, you shall do well. Fare ye well.

30 They therefore being dismissed, went down to Antioch; and gathering together the multitude, delivered the epistle.

31 Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.

32 But Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, with many words comforted the brethren, and confirmed them.

33 And after they had spent some time there, they were let go with peace by the brethren, unto them that had sent them.

34 But it seemed good unto Silas to remain there; and Judas alone departed to Jerusalem.

35 And Paul and Barnabas continued at Antioch, teaching and preaching, with many others, the word of the Lord.

36 And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas: Let us return and visit our brethren in all the cities wherein we have preached the word of the Lord, to see how they do.

37 And Barnabas would have taken with them John also, that was surnamed Mark;

38 But Paul desired that he (as having departed from them out of Pamphylia, and not gone with them to the work) might not be received.

39 And there arose a dissension, so that they departed one from another; and Barnabas indeed taking Mark, sailed to Cyprus.

40 But Paul choosing Silas, departed, being delivered by the brethren to the grace of God.

41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches, commanding them to keep the precepts of the apostles and the ancients.