“Please come,” said Balak, “I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.”
- KJV And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.
- NKJV Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.”
- NASB Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be agreeable with God that you curse them for me from there.”
- NLT Then King Balak said to Balaam, “Come, I will take you to one more place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them from there.”
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 proposes yet another location, hoping God might permit a curse from there. His persistence borders on the irrational.
Overview
Despite two clear failures, Balak clings to the hope that a new place will change God's verdict. His superstition assumes geography can sway the Almighty. The verse exposes the stubborn futility of those who keep resisting the revealed will of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Rom 11:29For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.
- Num 23:13Then 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.”
- Prov 19:21Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail.
- Prov 21:30There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.
- Num 23:19–20God 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?
- Isa 14:27The LORD of Hosts has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is outstretched, so who can turn it back?
- Job 23:13But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires.
- Isa 46:10–11I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- Mal 3:6“Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
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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 23:27 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.