1 Balaam said to Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams." 2 Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram. 3 Balaam said to Balak, "Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go: perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me; and whatever he shows me I will tell you." He went to a bare height. 4 God met Balaam: and he said to him, "I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar." 5 Yahweh put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak." 6 He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab. 7 He took up his parable, and said, "From Aram has Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East. Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, defy Israel. 8 How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied? 9 For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. 10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!" 11 Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether." 12 He answered and said, "Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?" 13 Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place, where you may see them; you shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all: and curse me them from there." 14 He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar. 15 He said to Balak, "Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet (Yahweh) yonder." 16 Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and say this." 17 He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, "What has Yahweh spoken?" 18 He took up his parable, and said, "Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor. 19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good? 20 Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can't reverse it. 21 He has not seen iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. Yahweh his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them. 22 God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. 23 Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; Neither is there any divination with Israel. Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God done! 24 Behold, the people rises up as a lioness, As a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain." 25 Balak said to Balaam, "Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all." 26 But Balaam answered Balak, "Didn't I tell you, saying, 'All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do?'" 27 Balak said to Balaam, "Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse me them from there." 28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert. 29 Balaam said to Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams." 30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.
Being arrived at the high places of Baal, (Numbers 22:41), Balaam orders Balak to build seven altars, and prepare oxen and rams for sacrifice, Numbers 23:1, Numbers 23:2. Balaam inquires of the Lord, receives an answer, with which he returns to Balak, Numbers 23:3-10. Balak, finding that this was a prediction of the prosperity of the Israelites, is greatly troubled, Numbers 23:11. Balaam excuses himself, Numbers 23:12. He brings him to another place, where he might see only a part of Israel, and repeats his sacrifices, Numbers 23:13, Numbers 23:14. Balaam again consults the Lord, Numbers 23:15-17. Returns with his answer, and again predicts the glory of Israel, Numbers 23:18-24. Balak is angry, Numbers 23:25; and Balaam again excuses himself. Balak proposes another trial, takes him to another place, and repeats the same sacrifices, Numbers 23:26-30.
INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 23
This chapter gives an account of the sacrifices offered by Balak and Balaam, and how God met Balsam, and put a word into his mouth, which he delivered in the presence of the king of Moab and his princes, Numbers 23:1, the substance of which are, the separate state and condition of Israel from other nations, their number, and the happiness of the righteous at death, Numbers 23:8, which made Balak uneasy, since instead of cursing he blessed Israel, and therefore he had him to another place to take a view of the people, Numbers 23:11 where having offered sacrifices, another word was put into the mouth of Balaam, and which he also delivered before the king and his nobles, Numbers 23:14, in which were expressed the unchangeableness of God, the irreversibleness of the blessing of Israel, the strength, safety, happiness, and glory of that people, Numbers 23:19 which made Balak more uneasy still; but willing to try him a third time, he carried him to another place, and there built altars, and offered sacrifices, the consequence of which is related in the next chapter, Numbers 23:25.
(Numbers 23:1-10) Balak's sacrifice, Balaam pronounces a blessing instead of a curse.
(v. 11-30) Balak's disappointment, and second sacrifice, Balaam again blesses Israel.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.