for I will honor you richly and do whatever you say. So please come and put a curse on this people for me!’”
Parallel translations
- WEB for I will promote you to very great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Please come therefore, and curse this people for me.’”
- KJV For I will promote thee unto very great honour, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me: come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.
- NKJV for I will certainly honor you greatly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Therefore please come, curse this people for me.’ ”
- NASB for I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you tell me. Please come then, curse this people for me.’ ”
- NLT I will pay you very well and do whatever you tell me. Just come and curse these people for me!”
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
Balak promises great honor and to do whatever Balaam asks, if only he will curse Israel. The bribe is now enormous.
Overview
The offer of unlimited reward and honor is designed to overcome Balaam's stated reluctance. It tests whether Balaam values God's word or worldly gain more highly. The lavish bribe sharpens the central question of the narrative: can any price buy a reversal of God's blessing?
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Num 24:11Therefore, flee at once to your home! I said I would richly reward you, but instead the LORD has denied your reward.”
- Num 22:37And he said to Balaam, “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why did you not come to me? Am I really not able to richly reward you?”
- Num 22:6So please come now and put a curse on this people, because they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land; for I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed.”
- Matt 14:7so much that he promised with an oath to give to her whatever she asked.
- Deut 16:9You are to count off seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain.
- Matt 4:8–9Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
- Matt 16:26What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
- Num 23:2–3So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
- Num 23:29–30Then Balaam said, “Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”
- Esth 5:11Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants.
- Esth 7:9Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.” “Hang him on it!” declared the king.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 22:17 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.