1Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.”
2Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram. 3Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.”
He went to a bare height. 4God met Balaam, and he said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.”
5Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
6He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab. 7He took up his parable, and said,
“From Aram has Balak brought me,
the king of Moab from the mountains of the East.
Come, curse Jacob for me.
Come, defy Israel.
8How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied?
9For from the top of the rocks I see him.
From the hills I see him.
Behold, it is a people that dwells alone,
and shall not be listed among the nations.
10Who can count the dust of Jacob,
or count the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous!
Let my last end be like his!”
11Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether.”
12He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?”
13Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you may see them. You shall see just part of them, and shall not see them all. Curse them from there for me.”
14He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar. 15He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet God over there.”
16Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.”
17He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh spoken?”
18He took up his parable, and said,
“Rise up, Balak, and hear!
Listen to me, you son of Zippor.
19God is not a man, that he should lie,
nor a son of man, that he should repent.
Has he said, and he won’t do it?
Or has he spoken, and he won’t make it good?
20Behold, I have received a command to bless.
He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it.
21He has not seen iniquity in Jacob.
Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel.
Yahweh his God is with him.
The shout of a king is among them.
22God brings them out of Egypt.
He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.
23Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob;
neither is there any divination with Israel.
Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel,
‘What has God done!’
24Behold, a people rises up as a lioness.
As a lion he lifts himself up.
He shall not lie down until he eats of the prey,
and drinks the blood of the slain.”
25Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.”
26But Balaam answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do?’”
27Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.”
28Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert. 29Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
30Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.
Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebekah, born immediately after Esau, and Abraham was his grandfather. He achieved the right of the firstborn by trickery, in offering his older brother, Esau, food in exchange for the birthright, who cared little for this position. He also received the blessing of firstborn from his father Jacob before his death by cunning, and with the assistance of his mother Rebekah.
After his deception of Esau, receiving the blessing from his father, Jacob escaped to his uncle Laban, who in turn deceived Jacob into working for fourteen years for the marriage of Jacob to Leah, and then his beloved Rachel. Laban also sought to deceive Jacob of wages, but God intervened to ensure he would prosper. In a time of trial, when he feared the wrath of Esau, upon returning to the land of Canaan, Jacob had an encounter with God, and his name was changed to Israel, the one who wrestles with God. Even though his early life was characterized by deception, God worked through the situation to ensure that Jacob would be the one in the line of the patriarchs, to create a great nation and ultimately fulfill His purposes in the earth, especially through the future Messiah. The Messiah would guarantee the promise of the land to Abram and a person who would rule over Abraham's descendants, but also He would bring blessings to all the people of the earth (Gen 12:1-3).
In spite of Jacob's early failure by deception, God worked through him, and finally, Jacob became a different type of man after his struggle with God. As one has said,
"Despite Jacob’s faults, God chose him to be the leader of a great nation that still bears his name today. But for this, it is unlikely that we would know much about Jacob, who appears to be in the middle of events while the key players are those around him. There is no great wisdom or bravery in Jacob to speak of, and we are tempted to see him as little more than God’s passive instrument. If we are tempted to think that, because we aren’t in the spotlight performing great acts for God, we are unimportant to Him, then we should consider the life of Jacob and know that, in spite of our failings, God can and will still use us in His plan."
For more on Jacob, see "Who was Jacob in the Bible?", https://www.gotquestions.org/life-Jacob.html