Bible Strands
Numbers 23:7
And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Balaam addresses Balak and the assembled Moabite princes immediately after his second failed attempt to curse Israel (Num 23:6). He speaks this oracle to recount his journey and the king’s original demand.
The words — וַיִּשָּׂא מְשָׁלוֹ (va.yi.sa me.sha.lo) translates literally as “he lifted up his oracle,” while יַנְחֵנִי (yan.Che./ni) means “he led me” from Aram. These verbs frame the oracle as a formal pronouncement initiated by divine prompting rather than human will.
The thread — The phrase “lifted up an oracle” reappears in Numbers 23:18 and Numbers 24:3 to mark subsequent prophetic declarations. The summons from Aram echoes the initial commission recorded in Numbers 22:5 at Pethor by the Euphrates.
Why it lands — The text establishes that Balaam’s journey was driven by Balak’s command, not his own ambition. It forces the reader to recognize that the prophet’s authority and message originate outside the king’s political leverage.
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 he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.
Cross-references
- Numbers 22:5 he sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates in the land of his people. “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt,” said Balak. “They cover the face of the land and have settled next to me.
- Numbers 23:18 Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Arise, O Balak, and listen; give ear to me, O son of Zippor.
- Numbers 24:3 and he lifted up an oracle, saying: “This is the prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of a man whose eyes are open,
- Deuteronomy 23:4 For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.
- Numbers 24:15 Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying, “This is the prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of a man whose eyes are open,
- Numbers 24:23 Once more Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Ah, who can live unless God has ordained it?
- Job 29:1 And Job continued his discourse:
- Psalms 78:2 I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,
- Micah 2:4 In that day they will take up a proverb against you and taunt you with this bitter lamentation: ‘We are utterly ruined! He has changed the portion of my people. How He has removed it from me! He has allotted our fields to traitors.’”
- 1 Samuel 17:45 But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.