Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and give him this message.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
- KJV And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.
- NKJV Then the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
- NASB Then the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and this is what you shall speak.”
- NLT The Lord gave Balaam a message for King Balak. Then he said, “Go back to Balak and give him my message.”
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
Yahweh puts a word in Balaam's mouth and sends him back to speak it to Balak. God directly controls the content of the oracle.
Overview
This verse makes explicit that the message comes from Yahweh, not from Balaam's craft. God commandeers the mouth of the hired seer to declare His own purpose. It guarantees that what follows will be God's blessing on Israel rather than Balak's desired curse.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Jer 1:9Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
- Deut 18:18I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.
- Isa 59:21“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not depart from you, and My words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and grandchildren, from now on and forevermore,” says the LORD.
- Isa 51:16I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”
- 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.”
- Luke 12:12For at that time the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say.”
- Prov 16:1The plans of the heart belong to man, but the reply of the tongue is from the LORD.
- Prov 16:9A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
- 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.
- John 11:51Caiaphas did not say this on his own. Instead, as high priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation,
- Num 22:20That 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.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 23:5 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.