Numbers 23:11

11 And Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have surely blessed them!"

Numbers 23:11 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 23:11

And Balak said unto Balaam, what hast thou done unto me?
&c.] Or "for me" ^F6; nothing at all, to answer his purpose, or his end in sending for him;

I took thee to curse mine enemies:
so he calls the Israelites, though they had never done him any wrong; nor committed any acts of hostility against him, nor showed any intention to commit any; nay, were forbidden by the Lord their God to contend in battle with him and his people;

and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether;
or, "in blessing blessed" ^F7, done nothing but bless them, and that with many blessings, or pronounced them blessed, and prophesied of their blessedness, for their number, their safety, and of their happiness, not only in life, but at and after death.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 (yl) "pro me".
F7 (Krb tkrb) "benedixisti benedicendo", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator.

Numbers 23:11 In-Context

9 Because from the top of [the] rocks I see him, from hilltops I watch him. Behold, a people [who] dwell alone, they do not consider themselves among the nations.

10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, or [as] a number the fourth part of Israel? Let my life die the death of an upright person, and let my end be like his!"

11 And Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have surely blessed them!"

12 He answered and said, "{Should I not speak} what Yahweh puts in my mouth?"

13 Then Balak said, "Please walk with me to another place where you will see them, [but] you will only see part of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there."