That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, get up and go with them, but you must only do what I tell you.”
Parallel translations
- WEB God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak to you, that you shall do.”
- KJV And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do.
- NKJV And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you—that you shall do.”
- NASB And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise and go with them; but you shall do only the thing that I tell you.”
- NLT That night God came to Balaam and told him, “Since these men have come for you, get up and go with them. But do only what I tell you to do.”
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 permits Balaam to go but only to speak the word He gives. This is permission given as a form of judgment on Balaam's persistence.
Overview
God's allowance is not approval of Balaam's heart; it is a giving-over that will expose and constrain him (compare Psalm 81:12). Crucially, God ties the permission to absolute control over Balaam's speech. The episode shows that even when God lets a stubborn person have his way, He remains sovereign over the outcome.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Num 23:26But Balaam replied, “Did I not tell you that whatever the LORD says, I must do?”
- Num 24:13that even if Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the LORD? I will speak whatever the LORD says.
- Num 23:12But Balaam replied, “Should I not speak exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth?”
- 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.
- Num 23:16And the LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak what I tell you.”
- 1 Sam 12:12–19But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king to rule over us’—even though the LORD your God was your king.
- Ezek 14:2–5And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Ps 78:30–31Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths,
- Ps 81:12So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
- Isa 37:29Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
- 1 Sam 8:5–9“Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.”
- 2 Th 2:9–12The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,
- Hos 13:11So in My anger I gave you a king, and in My wrath I took him away.
- Num 23:5Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and give him this message.”
- Ps 33:10–11The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples.
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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 22:20 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.