Bible Strands
Numbers 23:27
“Please come,” said Balak, “I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Balak addresses Balaam immediately after the prophet refuses to curse Israel at the first high place. He proposes relocating to a new vantage point in hopes of securing a different divine response.
The words — The phrase לְכָ֥ה נָּא (lekhah nāʾ) literally means "come, please," marking an urgent petition. אֶקַּחְךָ֖ (ʾeqqaḥəḵā) translates "I will take you," underscoring Balak’s active attempt to control the viewing position.
The thread — This relocation request repeats the pattern in Numbers 23:13 and stands in direct contrast to the fixed divine will stated in Numbers 23:19 and Romans 11:29. The narrative thread tracks a human strategy of circumvention against an unchangeable prophetic decree.
Why it lands — The text reports Balak’s proposal without endorsing it, establishing that strategic relocation cannot alter God’s spoken word. It requires the reader to accept that divine declarations remain operative regardless of human attempts to reposition circumstances.
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 said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.
Cross-references
- Romans 11:29 For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.
- Numbers 23:13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the outskirts of their camp—not all of them. And from there, curse them for me.”
- Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Job 23:13 But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires.
- Proverbs 19:21 Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail.
- Proverbs 21:30 There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.
- Isaiah 14:27 The LORD of Hosts has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is outstretched, so who can turn it back?
- Isaiah 46:10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- Malachi 3:6 “Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.