Numbers 23:18

18 Then he took up his discourse and said, "Arise, O Balak, and hear; Give ear to me, O son of Zippor!

Numbers 23:18 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 23:18

And he took up his parable
Pronounced the word put into his mouth,

and said, rise up Balak, and hear;
not from his seat, as Eglon a successor of his did, ( Judges 3:20 ) for he was now standing by his burnt offering; but the sense is, that he would raise his attention, and stir up himself with all diligence to hear what he was about to say:

hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor;
or to his word, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, which follow.

Numbers 23:18 In-Context

16 Then the LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak."

17 He came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, "What has the LORD spoken?"

18 Then he took up his discourse and said, "Arise, O Balak, and hear; Give ear to me, O son of Zippor!

19 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good

20 "Behold, I have received a command to bless; When He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "parable"