Numbers 24:13

13 'If Balak gave to me the fullness of his house full of silver and gold, I am not able to go beyond {the command of Yahweh} to do good or evil, from my heart; what Yahweh speaks, I will speak'?

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 {Flee} to your place now. I said I would richly honor you, but look, Yahweh has withheld honor from you."

12 Balaam said to Balak, "Did I not speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying,

13 'If Balak gave to me the fullness of his house full of silver and gold, I am not able to go beyond {the command of Yahweh} to do good or evil, from my heart; what Yahweh speaks, I will speak'?

14 And now, look, I [am about] to go to my people; I will advise you what this people will do to your people {in the following days}."

15 And he {uttered} his oracle and said, "The declaration of Balaam son of Beor, and the declaration of the man whose eye is closed,

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "the mouth of Yahweh"
• [b]. Hebrew "I will speak it"