Numbers 23:20 (LSB)

Passage

Behold, I have received a command to bless; When He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it.

Nearby Context

Numbers 23:18 Then he took up his discourse and said, “Arise, O Balak, and hear; Give ear to me, O son of Zippor!

Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not establish it?

Numbers 23:20 Behold, I have received a command to bless; When He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it.

Numbers 23:21 He has not observed misfortune in Jacob; Nor has He seen trouble in Israel; Yahweh his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them.

Numbers 23:22 God brings them out of Egypt, He is for them like the horns of the wild ox.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "behold", "received", "command", "bless", "blessed", and "revoke". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "behold" and "received", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "God is not a man that He..." into verse 21's "He has not observed misfortune in Jacob...", so "behold" and "received" 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 "behold" and "received" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.