Numbers 23:19 (DBY)

Passage

God is not a man, that he should lie; neither a son of man, that he should repent. Shall he say and not do? and shall he speak and not make it good?

Nearby Context

Numbers 23:17 And he came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him; and Balak said to him, What has Jehovah spoken?

Numbers 23:18 Then he took up his parable and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear! hearken unto me, son of Zippor!

Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither a son of man, that he should repent. Shall he say and not do? and shall he speak and not make it good?

Numbers 23:20 Behold, I have received [mission] to bless; and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

Numbers 23:21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen wrong in Israel; Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a king is in his midst.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "should", "neither", "repent", "shall", "speak", and "make". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "should" and "neither", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 18's "Then he took up his parable and..." into verse 20's "Behold I have received mission to bless...", so "should" and "neither" belong inside that flow. In Numbers context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "should" and "neither" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.