Numbers 22:12

12 And God said to Balaam, Do not thou go with them, neither curse thou the people, for it is blessed (for they be blessed/for on the contrary, they should be blessed).

Numbers 22:12 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 22:12

And God said unto Balaam, thou shalt not go with them
Which is a denial of the first thing Balak requested, "come now, therefore" ( Numbers 22:6 )

thou shall not curse the people;
which was the principal thing desired, and in order to which he was solicited to go with the messengers; but this is absolutely forbidden:

for they are blessed;
by the Lord himself, with an irrevocable blessing, and therefore it would be vain and fruitless, as well as dangerous for him to attempt to curse them, ( Genesis 12:3 ) this may have a special respect to the blessing of Jacob by Isaac, which could not be reversed by the solicitations of Esau, and which descended to Jacob's posterity, the Israelites, ( Genesis 27:33 ) .

Numbers 22:12 In-Context

10 Balaam answered, Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moabites, sent (them) to me, and (he) said,

11 Lo! a people that is gone out of Egypt hath covered the face of the earth; come thou, and curse them, if in any manner I may fight with them (for then I may be able to fight against them), and drive them away.

12 And God said to Balaam, Do not thou go with them, neither curse thou the people, for it is blessed (for they be blessed/for on the contrary, they should be blessed).

13 And Balaam rose early, and said to the princes, Go ye into your land (Go ye back to your land), for God hath forbade me to come with you.

14 The princes turned again (So the leaders returned), and said to Balak, Balaam would not come with us.