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.”
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.
- BSB 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.”
- 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 answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do?’”
- Num 24:13‘If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond Yahweh’s word, to do either good or bad of my own mind. I will say what Yahweh says’?
- Num 23:12He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?”
- Num 22:35Yahweh’s angel said to Balaam, “Go with the men; but only the word that I shall speak to you, that you shall speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
- Num 23:16Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.”
- 1 Sam 12:12–19“When you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us;’ when Yahweh your God was your king.
- Ezek 14:2–5Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
- Ps 78:30–31They didn’t turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths,
- Ps 81:12So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels.
- Isa 37:29Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.
- 1 Sam 8:5–9They said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons don’t walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
- 2 Th 2:9–12even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
- Hos 13:11I have given you a king in my anger, and have taken him away in my wrath.
- Num 23:5Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
- Ps 33:10–11Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect.
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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.