Nombres 23:3

3 Puis Balaam dit à Balak: Tiens-toi près de ton holocauste, et je m'en irai; peut-être que l'Éternel se présentera à moi, et je te rapporterai ce qu'il m'aura fait voir. Et il alla en un lieu découvert.

Nombres 23:3 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 23:3

And Balaam said unto Balak,
stand by thy burnt offering By which it appears that the sacrifices offered were of this sort, and there might be one, which was more peculiarly the burnt offering of Balak; though he might be more or less with Balaam concerned in them all; at which he was directed to stand while it was burning, presenting that and himself to the Lord, that he would have respect to both:

and I will go;
depart from thence, at some little distance, unto some private place:

peradventure the Lord will come to meet me;
upon the offering of these sacrifices to him, though he could not be certain of it, he having lately shown some displeasure and resentment unto him; and this was also in the daytime, when it was in the night he usually came unto him:

and whatsoever he showeth me I will tell thee;
the whole of it, truly as it is, whether agreeable or not:

and he went to an high place;
but he was in one already, and therefore if this is the sense of the word, he must go to another, into a grove in one of the high places, where he might be retired, and so fit for a divine converse; and the Targum of Onkelos renders it alone: but rather the sense is, that he went into a plain, as De Dieu has shown from the use of the word in the Syriac language; he was upon a high place, and he went down from thence into the plain, perhaps into a cave at the bottom of the hill, a retired place, where he hoped the Lord would meet him, as he did.

Nombres 23:3 In-Context

1 Or Balaam dit à Balak: Construis-moi ici sept autels, et prépare-moi ici sept taureaux et sept béliers.
2 Et Balak fit comme Balaam avait dit; et Balak et Balaam offrirent un taureau et un bélier sur chaque autel.
3 Puis Balaam dit à Balak: Tiens-toi près de ton holocauste, et je m'en irai; peut-être que l'Éternel se présentera à moi, et je te rapporterai ce qu'il m'aura fait voir. Et il alla en un lieu découvert.
4 Et Dieu vint au-devant de Balaam, et Balaam lui dit: J'ai dressé les sept autels, et j'ai sacrifié un taureau et un bélier sur chaque autel
5 Et l'Éternel mit des paroles dans la bouche de Balaam et dit: Retourne vers Balak, et parle ainsi.
The Ostervald translation is in the public domain.