Numbers 24:13

13 I said, 'Balak could give me his palace filled with silver and gold. Even if I wanted to, I still couldn't do anything at all that goes beyond what the LORD commands. I have to 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 Get out of here right away! Go home! I said I'd make you very rich. But the LORD has kept you from getting rich."

12 Balaam answered Balak, "Here is what I told the messengers you sent me.

13 I said, 'Balak could give me his palace filled with silver and gold. Even if I wanted to, I still couldn't do anything at all that goes beyond what the LORD commands. I have to say only what the LORD tells me to say.'

14 "Now I'm going back to my people. But come. Let me warn you about what these people will do to your people in days to come."

15 Then Balaam spoke the message he had received from God. He said, "Here is the message God gave Balaam, the son of Beor. It's the message God gave to the one who sees clearly.