Numbers 23:16

23:16 Then the Lord met Balaam and put a message ¹  in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.”

Numbers 23:26

23:26 But Balaam replied ²  to Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord speaks, ³  I must do’?”

Numbers 24:13

24:13 ‘If Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond ⁴  the commandment ⁵  of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own will, ⁶  but whatever the Lord tells me I must speak’?

Numbers 24:1

Balaam Prophesies Yet Again

24:1 ⁷ When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, ⁸  he did not go as at the other times ⁹  to seek for omens, ¹⁰  but he set his face ¹¹  toward the wilderness.

Numbers 22:14

22:14 So the princes of Moab departed ¹²  and went back to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

Numbers 22:2

22:2 Balak son of Zippor saw all that the Israelites had done to the Amorites.

Numbers 18:13

18:13 And whatever first ripe fruit in their land they bring to the Lord will be yours; everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

¹ tn Heb “word.”

² tn Heb “answered and said.”

³ tn 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 verse. It is something of an independent accusative case, since it is picked up with the sign of the accusative: “all that the Lord speaks, it I must do.”

⁴ tn Heb “I am not able to go beyond.”

⁵ tn Heb “mouth.”

⁶ tn Heb “from my heart.”

⁷ sn For a thorough study of the arrangement of this passage, see E. B. Smick, “A Study of the Structure of the Third Balaam Oracle,” The Law and the Prophets, 242-52. He sees the oracle as having an introductory strophe (vv. 3, 4), followed by two stanzas (vv. 5, 6) that introduce the body (vv. 7b-9b) before the final benediction (v. 9b).

⁸ tn Heb “it was good in the eyes of the Lord.”

⁹ tn Heb “as time after time.”

¹⁰ tn The word נְחָשִׁים (nÿkhashim) means “omens,” or possibly “auguries.” Balaam is not even making a pretense now of looking for such things, because they are not going to work. God has overruled them.

¹¹ tn The idiom signifies that he had a determination and resolution to look out over where the Israelites were, so that he could appreciate more their presence and use that as the basis for his expressing of the oracle.

¹² tn Heb “rose up.”