Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not already tell the messengers you sent me
Parallel translations
- WEB Balaam said to Balak, “Didn’t I also tell your messengers who you sent to me, saying,
- KJV And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying,
- NKJV So Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying,
- NASB And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not in fact tell your messengers whom you had sent to me, saying,
- NLT Balaam told Balak, “Don’t you remember what I told your messengers? I said,
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
Balaam reminds Balak that he had warned his messengers from the start about his limitations. He defends himself by appealing to what he had already declared.
Overview
Balaam points back to his earlier insistence that he could only say what God permits. His self-defense, while accurate about God's sovereignty over his words, also distances him from responsibility for Balak's disappointment. The verse reinforces the central truth of the whole narrative: God's word, not human desire, governs the outcome.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Num 22:18But Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, “If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything small or great to go beyond the command of the LORD my God.
- Num 22:38“See, I have come to you,” Balaam replied, “but can I say just anything? I must speak only the word that God puts in my mouth.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 24:12 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
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