Yet the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, and the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.
Parallel translations
- WEB Nevertheless Yahweh your God wouldn’t listen to Balaam; but Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because Yahweh your God loved you.
- KJV Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee.
- NKJV Nevertheless the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you.
- NASB Nevertheless, the Lord your God was unwilling to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves you.
- NLT But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam. He turned the intended curse into a blessing because the Lord your God loves you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God refused to let Balaam curse Israel and instead turned the curse into blessing because He loved them. God's covenant love overrules every hostile intent.
Overview
This verse highlights God's sovereign, protective love for His people: He overruled Balaam's intended curse and transformed it into blessing (Num 23-24). The ground of this deliverance is simply that God loved you. This unmerited covenant love anticipates the gospel, where God turns the curse we deserved into blessing through Christ, who bore the curse for us (Gal 3:13-14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Deut 7:7–8The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
- Rom 8:31What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
- Num 24:9He crouches, he lies down like a lion; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you.”
- Eph 2:4–5But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
- 2 Cor 4:17For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.
- Jer 31:3The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.
- Mic 6:5My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may acknowledge the righteousness of the LORD.’”
- Num 23:5–12Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and give him this message.”
- Rom 11:28Regarding the gospel, they are enemies on your account; but regarding election, they are loved on account of the patriarchs.
- Deut 33:3Surely You love the people; all the holy ones are in Your hand, and they sit down at Your feet; each receives Your words—
- Ezek 16:8Then I passed by and saw you, and you were indeed old enough for love. So I spread My cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine, declares the Lord GOD.
- Ps 73:1A Psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
- Prov 26:2Like a fluttering sparrow or darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.
- Num 23:16–26And the LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak what I tell you.”
- Num 22:35But the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you are to speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
- Rom 9:13So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
- Mal 1:2“I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you ask, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have loved,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 23:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.