Numbers 22:14

14 So the Moabite officials returned to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

Numbers 22:14 in Other Translations

14 And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went unto Balak, and said, Balaam refuseth to come with us.

14 So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, "Balaam refuses to come with us."

14 So the Moabite officials returned to King Balak and reported, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

14 So the Moabite nobles left, came back to Balak, and said, "Balaam wouldn't come with us."

14 The officials of Moab arose, returned to Balak, and reported, "Balaam refused to come with us."

Numbers 22:14 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 22:14

And the princes of Moab rose up
And the princes of Midian also, immediately, without entering into a parley with him, to persuade him to go with them; perceiving by his answer that it would be to no purpose, and that he was determined to do as the Lord directed him:

and they went unto Balak, and said, Balaam refuseth to come with us;
as Balaam told them less than what God had said to him, so they related less to Balak than what Balaam had said to them; saying nothing of the Lord's refusing to let him go with them, but represent it as a piece of pride and obstinacy in Balaam, and which Balak was left to understand; and it seems as if he did understand it as a piece of policy in Balaam, to get a larger offer of money or honour, or both, from him, and which the following account seems to confirm.

Numbers 22:14 In-Context

12 But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”

13 The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak’s officials, “Go back to your own country, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.”

14 So the Moabite officials returned to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

15 Then Balak sent other officials, more numerous and more distinguished than the first.

16 They came to Balaam and said: “This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me,