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Contemporary English Version

Numbers 22:17

I'll pay you very well and do whatever you ask. Just come and place a curse on these people."

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Balak;   Decision;   Temptation;   Thompson Chain Reference - Balaam;   Earthly;   Honour;   Honour-Dishonour;   Reward;   Reward-Punishment;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Desert, Journey of Israel through the;   Moabites;   Temptation;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Midianites;   Moabites;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Balaam;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Pentateuch;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Transjordan;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Balaam;   Balak;   Moab, Moabites;   Prophecy, Prophets;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Balak;   Midian;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - On to Canaan;   Moses, the Man of God;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Hafá¹­arah;   Joshua, the Samaritan Book of;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
for I will promote you to very great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Please come therefore, and curse this people for me.
King James Version
For I will promote thee unto very great honour, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me: come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.
Lexham English Bible
because I will surely honor you greatly, and all that you say to me I will do. Please, come; curse this people for me.'"
English Standard Version
for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Come, curse this people for me.'"
New Century Version
I will pay you very well, and I will do what you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me."
New English Translation
For I will honor you greatly, and whatever you tell me I will do. So come, put a curse on this nation for me.'"
Amplified Bible
'For I will give you a very great honor and I will do whatever you tell me; so please come, curse these people [of Israel] for me.'"
New American Standard Bible
for I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you tell me. Please come then, curse this people for me.'"
Geneva Bible (1587)
For I wil promote thee vnto great honour, and wil do whatsoeuer thou sayest vnto me: come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.
Legacy Standard Bible
for I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Please come then, curse this people for me.'"
Complete Jewish Bible
I will reward you very well, and whatever you say to me I will do. So please come, and curse this people for me.'"
Darby Translation
for very highly will I honour thee, and whatever thou shalt say to me will I do; come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.
Easy-to-Read Version
I will pay you very much, and I will do whatever you ask. Come and curse these people for me."
George Lamsa Translation
For I will surely honor you exceedingly, and I will do for you whatever you say to me; come therefore, curse this people for me.
Good News Translation
I will reward you richly and do anything you say. Please come and curse these people for me."
Christian Standard Bible®
for I will greatly honor you and do whatever you ask me. So please come and put a curse on these people for me!’”
Literal Translation
for I will honor you with very much honor; and all that you say to me I will do. And please come, curse this people for me.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
for I wyll promote the vnto hye honoure, & wil do what so euer thou sayest vnto me. Come I praye the, curse me this people.
American Standard Version
for I will promote thee unto very great honor, and whatsoever thou sayest unto me I will do: come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.
Bible in Basic English
For I will give you a place of very great honour, and whatever you say to me I will do; so come, in answer to my prayer, and put a curse on this people.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For I wyll greatly promote thee vnto great honour, and wyll do whatsoeuer thou sayest vnto me: come I pray thee, curse this people for my sake.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
for I will promote thee unto very great honour, and whatsoever thou sayest unto me I will do; come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.'
King James Version (1611)
For I wil promote thee vnto very great honour, and I will do whatsoeuer thou saiest vnto me: Come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For I will greatly honour thee, and will do for thee whatsoever thou shalt say; come then, curse me this people.
English Revised Version
for I will promote thee unto very great honour, and whatsoever thou sayest unto me I will do: come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.
Berean Standard Bible
for I will honor you richly and do whatever you say. So please come and put a curse on these people for me!'"
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and what euer thing thou wolt, Y schal yyue to thee; come thou, and curse this puple.
Young's Literal Translation
for very greatly I honour thee, and all that thou sayest unto me I do; and come, I pray thee, pierce for me this people.'
Update Bible Version
for I will promote you to very great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do: come therefore, I pray you, curse this people for me.
Webster's Bible Translation
For I will promote thee to very great honor, and I will do whatever thou sayest to me: come therefore, I pray thee, curse this people for me.
World English Bible
for I will promote you to very great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Please come therefore, and curse this people for me.
New King James Version
for I will certainly honor you greatly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Therefore please come, curse this people for me."'
New Living Translation
I will pay you very well and do whatever you tell me. Just come and curse these people for me!"
New Life Bible
I will give you much honor. I will do whatever you tell me. I beg you to come and curse these people for me.'"
New Revised Standard
for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do; come, curse this people for me.'"
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For I will honour, thee, exceedingly, and all that thou shalt say unto me, will I do. Do come therefore I pray thee oh revile me this people.
Douay-Rheims Bible
For I am ready to honour thee, and will give thee whatsoever thou wilt: come and curse this people.
Revised Standard Version
for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do; come, curse this people for me.'"
New American Standard Bible (1995)
for I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Please come then, curse this people for me.'"

Contextual Overview

15 Then Balak sent a larger group of officials, who were even more important than the first ones. 16 They went to Balaam and told him that Balak had said, "Balaam, if you come to Moab, 17 I'll pay you very well and do whatever you ask. Just come and place a curse on these people." 18 Balaam answered, "Even if Balak offered me a palace full of silver or gold, I wouldn't do anything to disobey the Lord my God. 19 You are welcome to spend the night here, just as the others did. I will find out if the Lord has something else to say about this." 20 That night, God said, "Balaam, I'll let you go to Moab with Balak's messengers, but do only what I say." 21 So Balaam got up the next morning and saddled his donkey, then left with the Moabite officials.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I will promote: Numbers 24:11, Deuteronomy 16:9, Esther 5:11, Esther 7:9, Matthew 4:8, Matthew 4:9, Matthew 16:26

and I will do: Numbers 23:2, Numbers 23:3, Numbers 23:29, Numbers 23:30, Matthew 14:7

come: Numbers 22:6

curse me: An erroneous opinion prevailed, both in those days and in after ages, that some men had the power, by the help of their gods, to devote, not only particular persons, but cities and whole armies, to destruction. This they are said to have done sometimes by words of imprecation; of which there was a set form among some people, which schines calls היןסיזןלוםחם בסבם , "the determinate curse." Macrobius has a whole chapter on this subject. He gives us two of the ancient forms used in reference to the destruction of Carthage; the first, which was only pronounced by the dictator, or general, was to call over the protecting deities to their side, and the other to devote the city to destruction, which they were supposed to have abandoned. The Romans held, that no city would be taken till its tutelary god had forsaken it; or if it could be taken, it would be unlawful, as it would be sacrilege to lead the gods into captivity. Virgil intimates, that Troy was destroyed because Excessere omnes adytis, arisque relictis dii, quibus imperium hoc steterat, "All the gods, by whose assistance the empire had hitherto been preserved, forsook their altars and temples." See more on this subject in Dr. A. Clarke, Bp. Patrick, and Burder's Oriental Customs, No. 734.

Reciprocal: Numbers 22:37 - General Numbers 23:7 - Come Numbers 23:11 - General Numbers 24:10 - I called Deuteronomy 23:4 - because they hired Judges 16:5 - we will 2 Samuel 13:28 - fear not 2 Kings 5:5 - and took Daniel 2:6 - ye shall Daniel 2:48 - a great Daniel 5:7 - be clothed Acts 1:18 - with 1 Timothy 6:9 - they

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others.
Genesis 13:16
I will give you more descendants than there are specks of dust on the earth, and someday it will be easier to count the specks of dust than to count your descendants.
Genesis 15:5
Then the Lord took Abram outside and said, "Look at the sky and see if you can count the stars. That's how many descendants you will have."
Genesis 17:6
I will give you a lot of descendants, and in the future they will become great nations. Some of them will even be kings.
Genesis 22:1
Some years later God decided to test Abraham, so he spoke to him. Abraham answered, "Here I am, Lord ."
Genesis 22:2
The Lord said, "Go get Isaac, your only son, the one you dearly love! Take him to the land of Moriah, and I will show you a mountain where you must sacrifice him to me on the fires of an altar."
Genesis 22:9
when they reached the place that God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and placed the wood on it. Next, he tied up his son and put him on the wood.
Genesis 22:10
He then took the knife and got ready to kill his son.
Genesis 22:13
Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in the bushes. So he took the ram and sacrificed it in place of his son.
Genesis 22:14
Abraham named that place "The Lord Will Provide." And even now people say, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For I will promote thee unto very great honour,.... In his court, by making him some great officer there, perhaps his prime minister; so that as before he laid a bait for his covetousness, sending him large presents, and rewards of divination; here, for his pride and ambition, promising him court preferment; though Aben Ezra interprets it of mammon or riches, of which he could give him an immense sum: "in honouring I will exceedingly honour thee" f; or load thee with wealth and riches; and so Balaam seems to understand it, since in his answer he says, "if Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold"; both civil honour and worldly wealth may be taken into the account, since they are both heavy and weighty things, and very desirable and ensnaring:

and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me; give him what money he should ask of him, put him into whatsoever place and office he should desire; and though he was a sovereign prince, would be at his beck and command, and do whatever he should direct him to do in his kingdom, as well as in what concerned the affair of cursing Israel; as we find he afterwards did, with respect to sacrifices and rites relative thereunto:

come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; renewing the request made in the first embassy with great importunity, Numbers 22:6 but using here a different word for "cursing"; there, as Munster observes, the word signifies to curse lightly; here, to blaspheme and utterly devote to ruin; to which may be added, to curse expressly and by name, to pierce through and through, to deprive of all benefits, and to destroy utterly.

f כבד אכבדך מאד "honorando honorabo te valde", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator.


 
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