Bible Strands
Numbers 23:2
So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Balaam has just commanded Balak to construct seven altars and prepare seven bulls and seven rams. Balak complies immediately, and the two men place the sacrifices on the newly built altars before Balaam departs to seek divine instruction.
The words — וַ/יַּ֣עַשׂ (va/i.Ya.'as) translates literally as “and he did,” marking Balak’s immediate compliance with Balaam’s command. וַ/יַּ֨עַל (va/i.Ya.'al) means “and he offered up,” describing the ritual placement of the bull and ram on each altar.
The thread — The same pattern of Balak following Balaam’s instructions and offering a bull and ram on each altar repeats in Numbers 23:14 and Numbers 23:30. These parallel accounts bookend the narrative of ritual preparation before prophetic revelation.
Why it lands — The verse records a completed ritual action without commentary, establishing the physical and procedural groundwork for the subsequent encounter between Balaam and the Lord. It requires the reader to track the precise sequence of obedience, sacrifice, and delayed revelation that structures the passage.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.
Cross-references
- Numbers 23:14 So Balak took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
- Numbers 23:30 So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.