Numbers 23:11

11 And Balac said to Balaam: What is this that thou dost? I sent for thee to curse my enemies: and thou contrariwise blessest 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 I shall see him from the tops of the rocks, and shall consider him from the hills. This people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, and know the number of the stock of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the just, and my last end be like to them.

11 And Balac said to Balaam: What is this that thou dost? I sent for thee to curse my enemies: and thou contrariwise blessest them.

12 He answered him: Can I speak any thing else but what the Lord commandeth?

13 Balac therefore said: Come with me to another place from whence thou mayest see part of Israel, and canst not see them all: curse them from thence.