Numbers 23:18

18 Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Arise, O Balak, and listen; 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 And the LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak what I tell you.”

17 So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the princes of Moab. “What did the LORD say?” Balak asked.

18 Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Arise, O Balak, and listen; give ear to me, O son of Zippor.

19 God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

20 I have indeed received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it.