Bible Strands
Numbers 23:20
I have indeed received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Balaam addresses Balak after being divinely commanded to bless Israel, immediately following his declaration that God does not change His mind. The declaration occurs during a second prophetic oracle at the high places of Moab.
The words — אֲשִׁיבֶֽ/נָּה ('a.shi.Ve./nah) = I will turn back/it, paired with בָרֵ֖ךְ (va.Rekh) = [surely] blessing, anchor the verse in the mechanics of divine speech and irrevocable action.
The thread — The theme of irrevocable blessing appears in Numbers 22:12 where God prohibits cursing the same people, and in Genesis 12:2 where the patriarchal promise establishes blessing as a fixed divine output. The New Testament echoes the certainty of divine speech in John 10:27 regarding the reliable nature of God's voice.
Why it lands — The text asserts that God's spoken blessing cannot be reversed by human circumstance or prophetic pressure. A reader must accept that divine commitment operates independently of human manipulation or changing conditions.
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
Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.
Cross-references
- John 10:27 My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.
- Numbers 22:12 But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You are not to curse this people, for they are blessed.”
- Genesis 12:2 I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
- Genesis 22:17 I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
- Isaiah 43:13 Even from eternity I am He, and none can deliver out of My hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”
- Numbers 22:18 But Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, “If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything small or great to go beyond the command of the LORD my God.
- Romans 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
- 1 Peter 1:5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
- Numbers 22:38 “See, I have come to you,” Balaam replied, “but can I say just anything? I must speak only the word that God puts in my mouth.”