Numbers 23:19-20

23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie,

nor a human being, ¹  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? ² 

23:20 Indeed, I have received a command ³  to bless;

he has blessed, ⁴  and I cannot reverse it. ⁵ 

Job 23:13

23:13 But he is unchangeable, ⁶  and who can change ⁷  him?

Whatever he ⁸  has desired, he does.

Proverbs 19:21

19:21 There are many plans ⁹  in a person’s mind, ¹⁰ 

but it ¹¹  is the counsel ¹²  of the Lord which will stand.

Proverbs 21:30

21:30 There is no wisdom and there is no understanding,

and there is no counsel against ¹³  the Lord. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 14:27

14:27 Indeed, ¹⁵  the Lord who commands armies has a plan,

and who can possibly frustrate it?

His hand is ready to strike,

and who can possibly stop it? ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 46:10-11

46:10 who announces the end from the beginning

and reveals beforehand ¹⁷  what has not yet occurred,

who says, ‘My plan will be realized,

I will accomplish what I desire,’

46:11 who summons an eagle ¹⁸  from the east,

from a distant land, one who carries out my plan.

Yes, I have decreed, ¹⁹ 

yes, I will bring it to pass;

I have formulated a plan,

yes, I will carry it out.

Malachi 3:6

Resistance to the Lord through Selfishness

3:6 “Since, I, the Lord, do not go back on my promises, ²⁰  you, sons of Jacob, have not perished.

Romans 11:29

11:29 For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

[23:19]  ¹ tn Heb “son of man.”

[23:19]  ² tn The verb is the Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “to cause to rise; to make stand”). The meaning here is more of the sense of fulfilling the promises made.

[23:20]  ³ tn The Hebrew text simply has “I have received [to] bless.” The infinitive is the object of the verb, telling what he received. Balaam was not actually commanded to bless, but was given the word of blessing so that he was given a divine decree that would bless Israel.

[23:20]  ⁴ sn The reference is probably to the first speech, where the Lord blessed Israel. Balaam knows that there is nothing he can do to reverse what God has said.

[23:20]  ⁵ tn The verb is the Hiphil of שׁוּב (shuv), meaning “to cause to return.” He cannot return God’s word to him, for it has been given, and it will be fulfilled.

[23:13]  ⁶ tc The MT has “But he [is] in one.” Many add the word “mind” to capture the point that God is resolute and unchanging. Some commentators find this too difficult, and so change the text from בְאֶחָד (bÿ’ekhad, here “unchangeable”) to בָחָר (bakhar, “he has chosen”). The wording in the text is idiomatic and should be retained. R. Gordis (Job, 262) translates it “he is one, i.e., unchangeable, fixed, determined.” The preposition בּ (bet) is a bet essentiae – “and he [is] as one,” or “he is one” (see GKC 379 §119.i).

[23:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “cause him to return.”

[23:13]  ⁸ tn Or “his soul.”

[19:21]  ⁹ sn The plans (from the Hebrew verb חָשַׁב [khashav], “to think; to reckon; to devise”) in the human heart are many. But only those which God approves will succeed.

[19:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in the heart of a man” (cf. NAB, NIV). Here “heart” is used for the seat of thoughts, plans, and reasoning, so the translation uses “mind.” In contemporary English “heart” is more often associated with the seat of emotion than with the seat of planning and reasoning.

[19:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “but the counsel of the Lord, it will stand.” The construction draws attention to the “counsel of the Lord”; it is an independent nominative absolute, and the resumptive independent pronoun is the formal subject of the verb.

[19:21]  ¹² tn The antithetical parallelism pairs “counsel” with “plans.” “Counsel of the Lord” (עֲצַת יְהוָה, ’atsat yehvah) is literally “advice” or “counsel” with the connotation of “plan” in this context (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT “purpose”; NCV “plan”; TEV “the Lord’s will”).

[21:30]  ¹³ tn The form לְנֶגֶד (lÿneged) means “against; over against; in opposition to.” The line indicates they cannot in reality be in opposition, for human wisdom is nothing in comparison to the wisdom of God (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 232).

[21:30]  ¹⁴ sn The verse uses a single sentence to state that all wisdom, understanding, and advice must be in conformity to the will of God to be successful. It states it negatively – these things cannot be in defiance of God (e.g., Job 5:12-13; Isa 40:13-14).

[14:27]  ¹⁵ tn Or “For” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “His hand is outstretched and who will turn it back?”

[46:10]  ¹⁷ tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”

[46:11]  ¹⁸ tn Or, more generally, “a bird of prey” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV; see 18:6).

[46:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “spoken”; KJV “I have spoken it.”

[3:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “do not change.” This refers to God’s ongoing commitment to his covenant promises to Israel.