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Text -- Numbers 23:1-29 (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.
23:22 God brought them out of Egypt . They have, as it were, the strength of a wild bull .
23:23 For there is no spell against Jacob , nor is there any divination against Israel . At this time it must be said of Jacob and of Israel , ‘Look at what God has done !’
23:24 Indeed , the people will rise up like a lioness , and like a lion raises himself up ; they will not lie down until they eat their prey , and drink the blood of the slain .”
Balaam Relocates Yet Again
23:25 Balak said to Balaam , “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all !”
23:26 But Balaam replied to Balak , “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord speaks , I must do ’?”
23:27 Balak said to Balaam , “Come , please ; I will take you to another place . Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there .”
23:28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor , that looks toward the wilderness .
23:29 Then Balaam said to Balak , “Build seven altars here for me, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams .”
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Hypocrisy |
Sorcery |
God |
POETRY, HEBREW |
PROPHECY; PROPHETS, 1 |
Temptation |
Moabites |
Worldliness |
BALAAM |
Pisgah |
Peor |
BLESS |
Prophets |
Altar |
NUMBER |
Unicorn |
Jeshimon |
Zippor |
PARABLE |
REVELATION, 3-4 |
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; Num 23:22; Num 23:22; Num 23:23; Num 23:23; Num 23:23; Num 23:23; Num 23:24; Num 23:24; Num 23:25; Num 23:25; Num 23:26; Num 23:26; Num 23:27; Num 23:27; Num 23:28
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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NET Notes: Num 23:21 The people are blessed because God is their king. In fact, the shout of acclamation is among them – they are proclaiming the Lord God as their k...
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NET Notes: Num 23:22 The expression is “the horns of the wild ox” (KJV “unicorn”). The point of the image is strength or power. Horns are also used...
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NET Notes: Num 23:23 The words “look at” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.
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NET Notes: Num 23:24 The oracle compares Israel first to a lion, or better, lioness, because she does the tracking and hunting of food while the lion moves up and down roa...
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NET Notes: Num 23:25 The same construction now works with “nor bless them at all.” The two together form a merism – “don’t say anything.̶...
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NET Notes: Num 23:26 This first clause, “all that the Lord speaks” – is a noun clause functioning as the object of the verb that comes at the end of the ...
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NET Notes: Num 23:27 Balak is stubborn, as indeed Balaam is persistent. But Balak still thinks that if another location were used it just might work. Balaam had actually t...
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