Numbers 24:13

13 even if you gave me all the silver and gold in your palace, I could not disobey the command of the Lord by doing anything of myself. I will say only what the Lord tells me to say."

Numbers 24:13 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 24:13

If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold
Which are the very words he said to the princes of Moab, ( Numbers 22:18 ) ,

I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to do either good or
bad;
for though here it is the "commandment", and there the "word" of the Lord, yet it is the same word in both places in the original text: indeed, here he omits the relation to the Lord he there claims, saying "my God"; and instead of "little or great", here it is "good or bad", but the sense is the same: and he adds, for explanation sake,

of mine own mind:
or out of my heart, which was disposed well enough to serve Balak, but was laid under a restraint by the Lord:

but what the Lord said, that will I speak;
and he had not only said this to the messengers, but to the king himself, and therefore he thought, that as he had openly and honestly told him this at first, he had no reason to be so angry with him; see ( Numbers 22:38 ) .

Numbers 24:13 In-Context

11 Now get on home! I promised to reward you, but the Lord has kept you from getting the reward."

12 Balaam answered, "I told the messengers you sent to me that

13 even if you gave me all the silver and gold in your palace, I could not disobey the command of the Lord by doing anything of myself. I will say only what the Lord tells me to say."

14 Balaam said to Balak, "Now I am going back to my own people, but before I go, I am warning you what the people of Israel will do to your people in the future."

15 Then he uttered this prophecy: "The message of Balaam son of Beor, The words of the man who can see clearly,