Numbers 23

1 Then Balaam said to Balak, “ Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 “Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone,” Balaam said to Balak. “Perhaps the LORD will meet with me. And whatever He reveals to me, I will tell you.” So Balaam went off to a barren height, 4 and God met with him. “I have set up seven altars,” Balaam said, “ and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.” 5 Then the LORD put a message in Balaam ’s mouth, saying, “ Return to Balak and give him this message.” 6 So he returned to Balak, who was standing there beside his burnt offering, with all the princes of Moab. 7 And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “ Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘ Come,’ he said, ‘ put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!’ 8 How can I curse what God has not cursed? How can I denounce what the LORD has not denounced? 9 For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. Behold, a people dwelling apart, not reckoning themselves among the nations. 10 Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous; let my end be like theirs!” 11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “ What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and behold, you have only blessed them!” 12 But Balaam replied, “ Should I not speak exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth?” Balaam’s Second Oracle 13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the outskirts of their camp— not all of them. And from there, curse them for me.” 14 So Balak took him 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. 15 Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I meet the LORD over there.” 16 And the LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth, saying, “ Return to Balak and speak what I tell you.” 17 So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the princes of Moab. “ What did the LORD say?” Balak asked. 18 Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “ Arise, O Balak, and listen; give ear to me, O son of Zippor. 19 God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill? 20 I have indeed received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it. 21 He considers no disaster for Jacob; He sees no trouble for Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of the King is among them. 22 God brought them out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox. 23 For there is no spell against Jacob and no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘ What great things God has done!’ 24 Behold, the people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion, not resting until they devour their prey and drink the blood of the slain.” 25 Now Balak said to Balaam, “ Then neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!” 26 But Balaam replied, “ Did I not tell you that whatever the LORD says, I must do?” 27 “ Please come,” said Balak, “ I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there.” 28 And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland. 29 Then Balaam said, “ Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.” 30 So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

✦ What the text says

## Summary Numbers 23 recounts three attempts by Balak to have Balaam curse Israel, each preceded by sacrifices on seven altars. Balaam instead delivers two oracles in which he declares that he cannot reverse a blessing Yahweh has spoken, describing Israel as a people set apart, blessed, and powerful. ## Key words - *yishakab* / *yishkav* — see below root for "he will lie down", H7901: imperfect verb describing incomplete future action, used in the "lion" imagery of v.24 to show the people's restless dominance. - *barekh* ("bless", H1288), piel infinitive — the piel stem (intensive) doubled with the perfect form *berakhta barekh* (v.11) intensifies the action: "you have truly blessed," emphasizing the completeness of the blessing Balak did not want. - *qabbo* ("curse", H6895), qal infinitive paired with imperfect *tiqqavennu* — the repetition of the same root in infinitive + finite form (vv.8, 25) is a Hebrew emphatic construction meaning "curse at all" or "utterly curse." - *El* ("God", H0410G) and *Yahweh* (H3068G) — both divine designations occur within the oracles; *El* appears in more general statements (vv.8, 19, 22, 23), while *YHWH* is used in narrative framing (vv.3, 5, 16) and in v.8's parallel line, showing alternation between a generic and the covenant name. - *nissav* ("standing", H5324), niphal participle — describes Balak's continuous posture "standing" beside his burnt offering (vv.6, 17), a participle marking an ongoing state rather than a single completed action. ## What the text says The chapter is structured around a repeated ritual pattern: Balaam commands the building of *shivah mizbechot* ("seven altars", H7651 + H4196) and the offering of *par* ("young bull", H6499) and *ayil* ("ram", H0352A), then withdraws to seek an encounter with *YHWH* using the niphal verb *yiqqareh* ("he will meet", H7136A) — a passive/reflexive form suggesting the meeting happens to Balaam rather than being something he initiates. This grammatical choice recurs when *YHWH* himself "meets" Balaam (*va-yiqqar*, v.4, v.16), forming a verbal echo between Balaam's expectation and its fulfillment. The two oracles (vv.7-10, 18-24) are introduced by *va-yissa meshalo* ("he lifted up his oracle/poem", H4912), a set formula for poetic proclamation. Within the first oracle, the rhetorical questions *mah eqqov lo qabboh El* ("what will I curse — [one whom] God has not cursed", v.8) use qal imperfect paired with qal perfect of the same root, producing a grammatical contrast between Balaam's potential action and God's already-completed one. The second oracle's core statement, *lo ish El vikhazzev* ("not a man is God, that he may lie", v.19), uses the piel imperfect with vav (*vikhazzev*) expressing purpose/result — grammatically framing divine speech as inherently reliable, contrasted with human unreliability (*ben adam*, "son of man/humankind", H0120G). ## Differences between versions In v.7, the Hebrew *min-Aram* ("from Aram", H0758L) is rendered by the LXX as "ἐκ Μεσοποταμίας" ("from Mesopotamia") and by the Vulgate as "de Aram," a difference in how the LXX generalizes the place name. In v.9, the Hebrew *tzurim* ("rocks", H6697H) becomes "ὀρέων" ("mountains") in the LXX, while the Vulgate keeps "silicibus" ("rocks/flint"), showing a divergence in the LXX's word choice for the geographic term.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.