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.
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.”
- BSB “Please come,” said Balak, “I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there.”
- 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 the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
- Num 23:13And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence.
- Prov 19:21There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.
- Prov 21:30There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.
- Num 23:19–20God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
- Isa 14:27For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
- Job 23:13But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
- Isa 46:10–11Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
- Mal 3:6For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
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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.