Bible Strands
Numbers 23:3
“Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone,” Balaam said to Balak. “Perhaps the LORD will meet with me. And whatever He reveals to me, I will tell you.” So Balaam went off to a barren height,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Balaam speaks to Balak immediately after both men have placed bulls and rams on seven altars. He tells the king to remain by the sacrifices while he departs to a barren height.
The words — The Hebrew הִתְיַצֵּב (hit.ya.Tzev) means "take your stand" or "position yourself," directing Balak to hold his ground at the altar site. The term אוּלַי (u.Lai) translates literally to "perhaps," marking Balaam's conditional expectation of divine contact.
The thread — This exact instruction repeats in Numbers 23:15 when Balaam tells Balak to wait beside the burnt offering while he meets the LORD. The broader context of altar sacrifices appears in Genesis 8:20 and Genesis 22:2, but those passages only record the building and offering of sacrifices without the waiting motif.
Why it lands — The text shows that prophetic revelation here depends on ritual positioning and divine timing rather than human manipulation. It asks the reader to note the strict boundary between human religious action and sovereign divine response.
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 Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the Lord will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place.
Cross-references
- Numbers 23:15 Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I meet the LORD over there.”
- Genesis 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
- Genesis 22:2 “Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
- Genesis 22:7 Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” “Here I am, my son,” he replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” said Isaac, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
- Genesis 22:13 Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
- Leviticus 1:1 Then the LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying,
- Numbers 22:31 Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. And Balaam bowed low and fell facedown.
- Numbers 24:1 And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not seek omens as on previous occasions, but he turned his face toward the wilderness.
- Exodus 18:12 Then Moses’ father-in-law Jethro brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.
- Numbers 22:8 “Spend the night here,” Balaam replied, “and I will give you the answer that the LORD speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.