Numbers 22:12

12 God answered Bil'am, "You are not to go with them; you are not to curse the people, because they are blessed."

Numbers 22:12 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 22:12

And God said unto Balaam, thou shalt not go with them
Which is a denial of the first thing Balak requested, "come now, therefore" ( Numbers 22:6 )

thou shall not curse the people;
which was the principal thing desired, and in order to which he was solicited to go with the messengers; but this is absolutely forbidden:

for they are blessed;
by the Lord himself, with an irrevocable blessing, and therefore it would be vain and fruitless, as well as dangerous for him to attempt to curse them, ( Genesis 12:3 ) this may have a special respect to the blessing of Jacob by Isaac, which could not be reversed by the solicitations of Esau, and which descended to Jacob's posterity, the Israelites, ( Genesis 27:33 ) .

Numbers 22:12 In-Context

10 Bil'am said to God, "Balak the son of Tzippor, king of Mo'av, has sent me this message:
11 'The people who came out of Egypt have spread over the land; now, come and curse them for me; maybe I will be able to fight against them and drive them out.'"
12 God answered Bil'am, "You are not to go with them; you are not to curse the people, because they are blessed."
13 Bil'am got up in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, "Return to your own land, because ADONAI refuses to give me permission to go with you."
14 The princes of Mo'av got up, returned to Balak and said, "Bil'am refuses to come with us."
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.