Numbers 23:20

20 Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.

Numbers 23:20 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 23:20

Behold, I have received [commandment] to bless
The people of Israel, to pronounce a blessing upon them, to declare them a happy people:

and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it;
God has blessed them, has determined to bless them, has promised to bless them, has blessed them in the victories he has given them, and will complete the blessing of them, by bringing them into the land he has given them: so the blessings which God has designed for his spiritual Israel, and bestows upon them, are irreversible; they are blessings indeed, spiritual ones, and are for ever; he blesses them with himself, as their covenant; God, their portion here and hereafter, with Christ his Son, and all things with him, with righteousness, peace, and pardon, with his Spirit and the grace thereof, with sonship, heirship, and eternal life.

Numbers 23:20 In-Context

18 And Balaam took up his discourse, and said, "Rise, Balak, and hear; hearken to me, O son of Zippor:
19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfil it
20 Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
21 He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob; nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them
22 God brings them out of Egypt; they have as it were the horns of the wild ox.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.