Numbers 24:13

24:13 ‘If Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond ¹  the commandment ²  of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own will, ³  but whatever the Lord tells me I must speak’?

Numbers 24:1

Balaam Prophesies Yet Again

24:1 ⁴ When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, ⁵  he did not go as at the other times ⁶  to seek for omens, ⁷  but he set his face ⁸  toward the wilderness.

Numbers 18:1

Responsibilities of the Priests

18:1 ⁹ The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe ¹⁰  with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, ¹¹  and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

Jeremiah 23:16

23:16 The Lord who rules over all ¹²  says to the people of Jerusalem: ¹³ 

“Do not listen to what

those prophets are saying to you.

They are filling you with false hopes.

They are reporting visions of their own imaginations,

not something the Lord has given them to say. ¹⁴ 

Ezekiel 13:17

13:17 “As for you, son of man, turn toward ¹⁵  the daughters of your people who are prophesying from their imagination. ¹⁶  Prophesy against them

John 5:30

5:30 I can do nothing on my own initiative. ¹⁷  Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, ¹⁸  because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. ¹⁹ 

John 6:38

6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

[24:13]  ¹ tn Heb “I am not able to go beyond.”

[24:13]  ² tn Heb “mouth.”

[24:13]  ³ tn Heb “from my heart.”

[24:1]  ⁴ 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).

[24:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “it was good in the eyes of the Lord.”

[24:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “as time after time.”

[24:1]  ⁷ 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.

[24:1]  ⁸ 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.

[18:1]  ⁹ sn This chapter and the next may have been inserted here to explain how the priests are to function because in the preceding chapter Aaron’s position was affirmed. The chapter seems to fall into four units: responsibilities of priests (vv. 1-7), their portions (vv. 8-19), responsibilities of Levites (vv. 20-24), and instructions for Levites (vv. 25-32).

[18:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your father’s house.”

[18:1]  ¹¹ sn The responsibility for the sanctuary included obligations relating to any violation of the sanctuary. This was stated to forestall any further violations of the sanctuary. The priests were to pay for any ritual errors, primarily if any came too near. Since the priests and Levites come near all the time, they risk violating ritual laws more than any. So, with the great privileges come great responsibilities. The bottom line is that they were responsible for the sanctuary.

[23:16]  ¹² tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[23:16]  ¹³ tn The words “to the people of Jerusalem” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation to reflect the masculine plural form of the imperative and the second masculine plural form of the pronoun. These words have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[23:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “They tell of a vision of their own heart [= mind] not from the mouth of the Lord.”

[13:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “set your face against.”

[13:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from their heart.”

[5:30]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “nothing from myself.”

[5:30]  ¹⁸ tn Or “righteous,” or “proper.”

[5:30]  ¹⁹ tn That is, “the will of the Father who sent me.”