Numbers 23:7 (DBY)

Passage

And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east: Come, curse me Jacob, and come, denounce Israel!

Nearby Context

Numbers 23:5 And Jehovah put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus shalt thou speak.

Numbers 23:6 And he returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.

Numbers 23:7 And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east: Come, curse me Jacob, and come, denounce Israel!

Numbers 23:8 How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I denounce whom Jehovah doth not denounce?

Numbers 23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: Lo, [it is] a people that shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "took", "parable", "said", "balak", "king", "moab", "hath", and "brought". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "took" and "parable", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "And he returned to him and behold..." into verse 8's "How shall I curse whom God hath...", so "took" and "parable" 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 "took" and "parable" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.