Numbers 23:13 (LSB)

Passage

Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, but you will only see the end of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there.”

Nearby Context

Numbers 23:11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have blessed them repeatedly!”

Numbers 23:12 And he replied, “Must I not be careful to speak what Yahweh puts in my mouth?”

Numbers 23:13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, but you will only see the end of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there.”

Numbers 23:14 So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Numbers 23:15 And he said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet Yahweh over there.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "balak", "said", "please", "come", "another", "place", "where", and "only". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "balak" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 12's "And he replied Must I not be..." into verse 14's "So he took him to the field...", so "balak" and "said" 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 "balak" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.