Numbers 24:13

13 If Balak doth give to me the fulness of his house of silver and gold, I am not able to pass over the command of Jehovah, to do good or evil of mine own heart -- that which Jehovah speaketh -- it I speak?

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 and now, flee for thyself unto thy place; I have said, I do greatly honour thee, and lo, Jehovah hath kept thee back from honour.'

12 And Balaam saith unto Balak, `Did I not also unto thy messengers whom thou hast sent unto me, speak, saying,

13 If Balak doth give to me the fulness of his house of silver and gold, I am not able to pass over the command of Jehovah, to do good or evil of mine own heart -- that which Jehovah speaketh -- it I speak?

14 and, now, lo, I am going to my people; come, I counsel thee [concerning] that which this people doth to thy people, in the latter end of the days.'

15 And he taketh up his simile, and saith: `An affirmation of Balaam son of Beor -- And an affirmation of the man whose eyes [are] shut --