Numbers 23:26

26 Balaam answered, "Didn't I tell you that I have to do only what the LORD says?"

Numbers 23:26 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 23:26

But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, told not I thee
He appeals to him for his honesty and faithfulness, for honest and faithful he would be thought to be, both to God and man; that when he first met him, he plainly told him what he must expect: from him:

saying, all that the Lord speaketh, that I must do;
which was very true, he was obliged to do as he had bid him, and speak what he had said unto him, though it was sore against his will; he would fain both have spoken and done otherwise, if he might have been permitted.

Numbers 23:26 In-Context

24 The people of Israel are going to wake up like a female lion. They are going to get up like a male lion. They are like a lion that won't rest until it eats what it has caught. They are like a lion that won't rest until it drinks the blood of what it has killed."

25 Then Balak said to Balaam, "Don't put a curse on them at all! And don't give them a blessing at all!"

26 Balaam answered, "Didn't I tell you that I have to do only what the LORD says?"

27 Then Balak said to Balaam, "Come. Let me take you to another place. Perhaps God will be pleased to let you put a curse on them for me from there."

28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Mount Peor. It looks out over a dry and empty land.