Numbers 23:5

5 Yahweh put a word in the mouth of Balaam and said, "Return to Balak, and you must speak thus."

Numbers 23:5 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 23:5

And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth
&c.] Not grace into his heart, nor the fear of God within him, but suggested to him what to say; impressed it strongly on him, that he could not forget it, and with such power and weight, that he was obliged to deliver it:

and said, return unto Balak, and thus shalt thou speak;
that is, unto him, and what is expressed in ( Numbers 22:7-10 ) .

Numbers 23:5 In-Context

3 And Balaam said to Balak, "Station yourself at your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell to you." So he went [to] a barren height.

4 And God met with Balaam, and he said to him, "I have arranged seven altars, and I have offered a bull and a ram on the altar.

5 Yahweh put a word in the mouth of Balaam and said, "Return to Balak, and you must speak thus."

6 So he returned to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, he and all the leaders of Moab.

7 And he lifted up his oracle and said, "From Aram Balak lead me, from the mountains of the east the king of Moab, 'Go for me, curse Jacob, and go, denounce Israel.'