Numbers 23:18

18 Then {he uttered} his oracle, and said, "Stand up, Balak, and hear; listen to me, 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 Then Yahweh met with Balaam, and he put a word in his mouth, and he said, "Return to Balak, and you must speak thus."

17 He came to him, and behold, he [was] standing at his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, "What has Yahweh spoken?"

18 Then {he uttered} his oracle, and said, "Stand up, Balak, and hear; listen to me, son of Zippor!

19 God [is] not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of humankind, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do [it]? And has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it

20 Behold, I have received [a command] to bless; when he has blessed, I cannot cause it to return.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "he lifted up"