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Text -- Numbers 23:1-21 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
Balaam Blesses Israel
23:1 Balaam said to Balak , “Build me seven altars here , and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams .”
23:2 So Balak did just as Balaam had said . Balak and Balaam then offered on each altar a bull and a ram .
23:3 Balaam said to Balak , “Station yourself by your burnt offering , and I will go off ; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went to a deserted height .
23:4 Then God met Balaam , who said to him, “I have prepared seven altars , and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram .”
23:5 Then the Lord put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said , “Return to Balak , and speak what I tell you.”
23:6 So he returned to him, and he was still standing by his burnt offering , he and all the princes of Moab .
23:7 Then Balaam uttered his oracle , saying , “Balak , the king of Moab , brought me from Aram , out of the mountains of the east , saying, ‘Come , pronounce a curse on Jacob for me; come , denounce Israel .’
23:8 How can I curse one whom God has not cursed , or how can I denounce one whom the Lord has not denounced ?
23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see them; from the hills I watch them. Indeed , a nation that lives alone , and it will not be reckoned among the nations .
23:10 Who can count the dust of Jacob , Or number the fourth part of Israel ? Let me die the death of the upright , and let the end of my life be like theirs .”
Balaam Relocates
23:11 Then Balak said to Balaam , “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies , but on the contrary you have only blessed them!”
23:12 Balaam replied , “Must I not be careful to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth ?”
23:13 Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you can observe them. You will see only a part of them, but you will not see all of them. Curse them for me from there .”
23:14 So Balak brought Balaam to the field of Zophim , to the top of Pisgah , where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar .
23:15 And Balaam said to Balak , “Station yourself here by your burnt offering , while I meet the Lord there .
23:16 Then the Lord met Balaam and put a message in his mouth and said , “Return to Balak , and speak what I tell you.”
23:17 When Balaam came to him, he was still standing by his burnt offering , along with the princes of Moab . And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken ?”
Balaam Prophesies Again
23:18 Balaam uttered his oracle , and said , “Rise up , Balak , and hear ; Listen to me, son of Zippor :
23:19 God is not a man , that he should lie , nor a human being , that he should change his mind . Has he said , and will he not do it? Or has he spoken , and will he not make it happen ?
23:20 Indeed , I have received a command to bless ; he has blessed , and I cannot reverse it.
23:21 He has not looked on iniquity in Jacob , nor has he seen trouble in Israel . The Lord their God is with them; his acclamation as king is among them.
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Moabites |
Hypocrisy |
God |
PROPHECY; PROPHETS, 1 |
POETRY, HEBREW |
Sorcery |
Worldliness |
Temptation |
BALAAM |
Pisgah |
Prophets |
Zippor |
REVELATION, 3-4 |
Altar |
BLESS |
PARABLE |
Minister |
Death |
Seven |
Zophim |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Num 23:1; Num 23:2; Num 23:3; Num 23:3; Num 23:3; Num 23:3; Num 23:4; Num 23:5; Num 23:5; Num 23:6; Num 23:7; Num 23:7; Num 23:7; Num 23:7; Num 23:8; Num 23:8; Num 23:9; Num 23:9; Num 23:9; Num 23:10; Num 23:10; Num 23:10; Num 23:10; Num 23:10; Num 23:10; Num 23:10; Num 23:10; Num 23:11; Num 23:11; Num 23:12; Num 23:12; Num 23:12; Num 23:14; Num 23:14; Num 23:14; Num 23:15; Num 23:15; Num 23:16; Num 23:17; Num 23:18; Num 23:18; Num 23:18; Num 23:19; Num 23:19; Num 23:20; Num 23:20; Num 23:20; Num 23:21; Num 23:21; Num 23:21; Num 23:21
NET Notes: Num 23:1 The first part of Balaam’s activity ends in disaster for Balak – he blesses Israel. The chapter falls into four units: the first prophecy ...
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NET Notes: Num 23:2 The Hebrew text has “on the altar,” but since there were seven of each animal and seven altars, the implication is that this means on each...
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NET Notes: Num 23:3 He went up to a bald spot, to a barren height. The statement underscores the general belief that such tops were the closest things to the gods. On suc...
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NET Notes: Num 23:4 The relative pronoun is added here in place of the conjunction to clarify that Balaam is speaking to God and not vice versa.
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NET Notes: Num 23:6 The Hebrew text draws the vividness of the scene with the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) – Balaam returned...
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NET Notes: Num 23:7 The opening lines seem to be a formula for the seer to identify himself and the occasion for the oracle. The tension is laid out early; Balaam knows t...
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NET Notes: Num 23:9 The verb could also be taken as a reflexive – Israel does not consider itself as among the nations, meaning, they consider themselves to be uniq...
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NET Notes: Num 23:11 The construction is emphatic, using the perfect tense and the infinitive absolute to give it the emphasis. It would have the force of “you have ...
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NET Notes: Num 23:12 The clause is a noun clause serving as the direct object of “to speak.” It begins with the sign of the accusative, and then the relative p...
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NET Notes: Num 23:15 The verse uses כֹּה (koh) twice: “Station yourself here…I will meet [the Lord] there.”
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NET Notes: Num 23:17 Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
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NET Notes: Num 23:19 The verb is the Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “to cause to rise; to make stand”). The meaning here is more of the sense of ...
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NET Notes: Num 23:20 The verb is the Hiphil of שׁוּב (shuv), meaning “to cause to return.” He cannot return God’s word to h...
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