When Balaam looks over the masses of Israel he is intent on cursing them. Doing so will lead to his personal enrichment and elevation in honor and status. But Balaam is limited in his role. He is only able to speak what God tells him to say, and God has no intention of cursing Israel. And so the words that Balaam speaks over Israel are instead blessings. And yet by the end of the passage, Israel ends up cursed anyway. Why? What went wrong?