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Sunday, August 3rd, 2025
the Week of Proper 13 / Ordinary 18
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Read the Bible

Green's Literal Translation

Numbers 23:20

Behold, I have received word to bless; yes, He has blessed; I cannot reverse it.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God;   God Continued...;   Pisgah;   Prophets;   Thompson Chain Reference - Balaam;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Desert, Journey of Israel through the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Camp, Encampments;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Balaam;   Moab;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Blessing and Cursing;   Poetry;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Balaam;   Balak;   Kibroth-Hattaavah;   Moab, Moabites;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Numbers, Book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - On to Canaan;   Moses, the Man of God;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Balaam;   Poetry, Hebrew;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Shema';  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Behold, I have received [mitzvah] to bless: He has blessed, and I can't reverse it.
King James Version
Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.
Lexham English Bible
Behold, I have received a command to bless; when he has blessed, I cannot cause it to return.
English Standard Version
Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
New Century Version
He told me to bless them, so I cannot change the blessing.
New English Translation
Indeed, I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
Amplified Bible
"Behold, I have received His command to bless [Israel]. He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
New American Standard Bible
"Behold, I have received a command to bless; When He has blessed, I cannot revoke it.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Behold, I haue receiued commandement to blesse: for he hath blessed, and I cannot alter it.
Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, I have received a command to bless;When He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it.
Contemporary English Version
"My command from God was to bless these people, and there's nothing I can do to change what he has done.
Complete Jewish Bible
Look, I am ordered to bless; when he blesses, I can't reverse it.
Darby Translation
Behold, I have received [mission] to bless; and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
Easy-to-Read Version
He told me to bless them. He blessed them, so I cannot change that.
George Lamsa Translation
Behold, I was brought here to bless; and I cannot reverse the blessing.
Good News Translation
I have been instructed to bless, And when God blesses, I cannot call it back.
Christian Standard Bible®
I have indeed received a command to bless;since he has blessed, I cannot change it.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Beholde, I am brought hither to blesse, I blesse, & can not go backe there fro.
American Standard Version
Behold, I have received commandment to bless: And he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
Bible in Basic English
See, I have had orders to give blessing: and he has given a blessing which I have no power to take away.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Beholde, I haue taken vpon me to blesse: for he hath blessed, and it is not in my power to aulter it.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Behold, I am bidden to bless; and when He hath blessed, I cannot call it back.
King James Version (1611)
Behold, I haue receiued commandement to blesse: and hee hath blessed, and I cannot reuerse it.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Behold, I have received commandment to bless: I will bless, and not turn back.
English Revised Version
Behold, I have received commandment to bless: And he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
Berean Standard Bible
I have indeed received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y am brouyt to blesse, Y may not forbede blessyng.
Young's Literal Translation
Lo, to bless I have received: Yea, He blesseth, and I [can]not reverse it.
Update Bible Version
Look, I have received [commandment] to bless: And he has blessed, and I can't reverse it.
Webster's Bible Translation
Behold, I have received [commandment] to bless: and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
World English Bible
Behold, I have received [commandment] to bless: He has blessed, and I can't reverse it.
New King James Version
Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
New Living Translation
Listen, I received a command to bless; God has blessed, and I cannot reverse it!
New Life Bible
See, I have been told to speak good of Israel. When He has spoken good of them, I cannot change it.
New Revised Standard
See, I received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Lo! to bless, have I received command , - And I will bless, nor will I take it back.
Douay-Rheims Bible
I was brought to bless, the blessing I am not able to hinder.
Revised Standard Version
Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Behold, I have received a command to bless; When He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it.

Contextual Overview

13 And Balak said to him, Now come with me to another place where you will see it; only you will see its edge and shall not see all of it; and curse it for me there. 14 And 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 the altar. 15 And he said to Balak, Station yourself by the burnt offering while I go to meet Him over there. 16 And Jehovah met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, Return to Balak, and say this. 17 And he came to him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt offering, and Moab's chiefs with him. And he said to him, What has Jehovah spoken? 18 And he took up his parable and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; give ear to me, son of Zippor. 19 God is not a man that He should lie, or a son of man that He should repent. Has He said, and shall He not do it? And has He spoken, and shall He not make it good? 20 Behold, I have received word to bless; yes, He has blessed; I cannot reverse it. 21 He has seen no iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen mischief in Israel. Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a king is in him. 22 God who brought them out of Egypt is for him like the lofty horns of the wild ox.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

he hath: Numbers 22:12, Genesis 12:2, Genesis 22:17

I cannot: Numbers 22:18, Numbers 22:38, John 10:27-29, Romans 8:38, Romans 8:39, 1 Peter 1:5

Reciprocal: Numbers 6:27 - and I will Numbers 23:8 - General Numbers 23:12 - General Numbers 23:27 - peradventure Numbers 24:1 - saw Deuteronomy 33:29 - Happy Judges 7:14 - his fellow 1 Kings 22:23 - and the Lord Job 23:13 - who can Psalms 109:28 - Let them Isaiah 45:19 - speak righteousness Jeremiah 38:21 - this is Acts 4:20 - we cannot

Cross-References

Genesis 23:7
And Abraham rose up and bowed himself to the people of the land, to the sons of Heth.
Genesis 23:10
And Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. And Ephron the Hittite replied to Abraham in the ears of the sons of Heth, to all those entering the gate of his city, saying,
Genesis 23:14
And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,
Genesis 25:9
And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him at the cave of Machpelah, at the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite which is before Mamre,
Genesis 50:5
My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I am dying; you shall bury me there in the grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan. And now please let me go up and bury my father, and return.
Genesis 50:13
And his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah; the field which Abraham bought for a burying place from Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
2 Samuel 24:24
And the king said to Araunah, No, for buying I will buy from you for a price, and I will not offer to Jehovah my God burnt offerings for nothing. And David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
2 Kings 21:18
And Manasseh lay with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his house in the Garden of Uzza. And his son Amon reigned in his place.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, I have received [commandment] to bless,.... The people of Israel, to pronounce a blessing upon them, to declare them a happy people:

and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it; God has blessed them, has determined to bless them, has promised to bless them, has blessed them in the victories he has given them, and will complete the blessing of them, by bringing them into the land he has given them: so the blessings which God has designed for his spiritual Israel, and bestows upon them, are irreversible; they are blessings indeed, spiritual ones, and are for ever; he blesses them with himself, as their covenant; God, their portion here and hereafter, with Christ his Son, and all things with him, with righteousness, peace, and pardon, with his Spirit and the grace thereof, with sonship, heirship, and eternal life.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I have received commandment to bless - literally, “I have received to bless.” The reason of his blessing lay in the augury which he acknowledged, and in the divine overruling impulse which he could not resist, not in any “commandment” in words.


 
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