Numbers 23:18 (DRB)

Passage

But he taking up his parable, said: Stand, O Balac, and give ear: hear, thou son of Sephor:

Nearby Context

Numbers 23:16 And when the Lord had met him, and had put the word in his mouth, he said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou say to him.

Numbers 23:17 Returning he found him standing by his burnt sacrifice, and the princes of the Moabites with him. And Balac said to him: What hath the Lord spoken?

Numbers 23:18 But he taking up his parable, said: Stand, O Balac, and give ear: hear, thou son of Sephor:

Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor is the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said then, and will he not do? hath he spoken, and will he not fulfil?

Numbers 23:20 I was brought to bless, the blessing I am not able to hinder.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "taking", "parable", "said", "stand", "balac", "give", "hear", and "thou". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "taking" and "parable", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 17's "Returning he found him standing by his..." into verse 19's "God is not a man that he...", so "taking" 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 "taking" and "parable" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.