Passage Research
Numbers 23 — Sermon Preparation
Balaam attempts to curse Israel twice from different vantage points but finds he can only speak what God puts in his mouth — each time a blessing comes out instead. Below is a research summary for Numbers 23, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.
- 30
- verses
- 389 / 134
- Hebrew words / lemmas
- 9
- classic sermon excerpts
- 5
- preachers & commentators
Numbers 23 in the Hebrew
Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | Strong's | Count | Glosses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בָּלָק | Bâlâq | H1111 | 18 | Balak |
| בִּלְעָם | Bilʻâm | H1109 | 14 | Bilam |
| מִזְבֵּחַ | mizbêach | H4196 | 8 | altar |
| שֶׁבַע | shebaʻ | H7651 | 8 | seven, full |
| קָבַב | qâbab | H6895 | 5 | scoop, malign |
| פַּר | par | H6499 | 6 | bullock, breaking |
| אַיִל | ʼayil | H352 | 6 | strength, strong |
How preachers through history handled this text
9 public-domain excerpts on Numbers 23, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“Balak was angry with Balaam. Thus a confession of God's overruling power is extorted from a wicked prophet, to the confusion of a wicked prince. A second time the curse is turned into a blessing; and this blessing is both larger and stronger than the former. Men change their minds, and break their words; but God never changes his mind, and therefore never recalls his promise. And when in Scripture he is said to repent, it does not mean any change of his mind; but only a change of his way. There was sin in Jacob, and God saw it; …”
— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), on Numbers 23:11–30 (Public Domain)
Places in the text
Based on ancient-geography data
- Pisgah— Num 23:14
- Zophim— Num 23:14
- Moab 1— Num 23:17
- Egypt— Num 23:22
- Jeshimon— Num 23:28
- Peor— Num 23:28
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