Numbers 23:19 (GNV)

Passage

God is not as man, that he should lie, neither as the sonne of man that he shoulde repent: hath he sayde and shall he not do it? and hath he spoken, and shall he not accomplish it?

Nearby Context

Numbers 23:17 And when he came to him, beholde, hee stoode by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him: so Balak sayde vnto him, What hath the Lord sayd?

Numbers 23:18 And he vttered his parable, and sayde, Rise vp, Balak, and heare: hearken vnto me, thou sonne of Zippor.

Numbers 23:19 God is not as man, that he should lie, neither as the sonne of man that he shoulde repent: hath he sayde and shall he not do it? and hath he spoken, and shall he not accomplish it?

Numbers 23:20 Behold, I haue receiued commandement to blesse: for he hath blessed, and I cannot alter it.

Numbers 23:21 Hee seeth none iniquitie in Iaakob, nor seeth no transgression in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the ioyfull shoute of a king is among them.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "should", "neither", "sonne", "shoulde", "repent", "hath", "sayde", and "shall". 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 "And he vttered his parable and sayde..." into verse 20's "Behold I haue receiued commandement to blesse...", 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.