Numbers 23:11

11 Balak said to Balaam, "What's this? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and all you've done is bless them."

Numbers 23:11 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 23:11

And Balak said unto Balaam, what hast thou done unto me?
&c.] Or "for me" ^F6; nothing at all, to answer his purpose, or his end in sending for him;

I took thee to curse mine enemies:
so he calls the Israelites, though they had never done him any wrong; nor committed any acts of hostility against him, nor showed any intention to commit any; nay, were forbidden by the Lord their God to contend in battle with him and his people;

and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether;
or, "in blessing blessed" ^F7, done nothing but bless them, and that with many blessings, or pronounced them blessed, and prophesied of their blessedness, for their number, their safety, and of their happiness, not only in life, but at and after death.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 (yl) "pro me".
F7 (Krb tkrb) "benedixisti benedicendo", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator.

Numbers 23:11 In-Context

9 From rock pinnacles I see them, from hilltops I survey them: Look! a people camping off by themselves, thinking themselves outsiders among nations.

10 But who could ever count the dust of Jacob or take a census of cloud-of-dust Israel? I want to die like these right-living people! I want an end just like theirs!

11 Balak said to Balaam, "What's this? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and all you've done is bless them."

12 Balaam answered, "Don't I have to be careful to say what God gives me to say?"

13 Balak said to him, "Go with me to another place from which you can only see the outskirts of their camp - you won't be able to see the whole camp. From there, curse them for my sake."