But Balaam answered Balak, Didn't I tell you, saying, All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do?
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The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.
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But Balaam answered Balak, Didn't I tell you, saying, All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do?
But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?
And Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘All that Yahweh speaks, it I must do’?”
unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).
Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.
But Balaam answered Balak, Didn't I tell you, saying, All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do?
But Balaam replied, “Did I not tell you that whatever the LORD says, I must do?”
But Balaam replied, “Did I not tell you that whatever the LORD says, I must do?”
But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?
But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that Jehovah speaketh, that I must do?
But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?
But Balaam answered, and saide vnto Balak, Tolde not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speaketh, that must I do?
And he said: Did I not tell thee, that whatsoever God should command me, that I would do?
and Balaam answereth and saith unto Balak, `Have I not spoken unto thee, saying, All that Jehovah speaketh -- it I do?'
and Balaam answers and says to Balak, “Have I not spoken to you, saying, All that YHWH speaks—I do it?”
But Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you that I must say all that Yahweh tells me to say?”
And Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘All that Yahweh speaks, it I must do’?”
And Balaam answered and said to Balak, Did I not tell thee, saying, All that Jehovah shall speak, that will I do?
But Balaam answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that the LORD speaks, that I must do’?”
But Balaam answered and said to Balak, Did I not tell thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?
But Balaam replied, “Didn't I explain to you that I have to do whatever the Lord tells me?”
But Balaam in answer said to Balak, Did I not say to you, I may only do what the Lord says?
But Balaam answered and said unto Balak: 'Told not I thee, saying: All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?'
Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).
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These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →
Shared distinctive vocabulary
בָּלָ֑ק Balak H1111 occurs in 40 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:
Grammatical profile
Verb forms
Repetition
Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:
Hebrew & Septuagint length
In English translation the verse runs 17 words from the Hebrew and 24 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably longer here. See the side-by-side →
A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.
Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.
In the original languages it is 15 Hebrew tokens and 19 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.
Topical passages linked to Numbers 23:26 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.
Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).
The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.
Here the Septuagint runs noticeably longer than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 24 words vs World English Bible 17. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.
These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.
וַיַּ֣עַן בִּלְעָ֔ם וַיֹּ֖אמֶר אֶל בָּלָ֑ק הֲלֹ֗א דִּבַּ֤רְתִּי אֵלֶ֨יךָ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר כֹּ֛ל אֲשֶׁר יְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה אֹת֥וֹ אֶֽעֱשֶֽׂה
But Balaam answered Balak, Didn't I tell you, saying, All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do?
World English Bible · Public Domain
καί ἀποκρίνω βαλααμ εἶπον ὁ βαλακ οὐ λαλέω σύ λέγω ὁ ῥῆμα ὅς ἐάν λαλέω ὁ θεός οὗτος ποιέω
And Balaam answered and said to Balac, Spoke I not to you, saying, Whatsoever thing God shall speak to me, that will I do?
LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain
Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →
The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.
וַאֲתֵיב בִּלְעָם וַאֲמַר לְבָלָק הֲלָא מַלֵילִית עִמָךְ לְמֵימַר כֹּל דִי יְמַלֵל יְיָ יָתֵיהּ אַעֲבֵיד
(no public-domain English translation for this verse)
Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
וְאָתֵיב בִּלְעָם וַאֲמַר לְבָלָק הֲלָא מִן שֵׁרוּיָא מַלֵלִית עִמָךְ לְמֵימָר כָּל דִימַלֵיל יְיָ יָתֵיהּ אֶעֱבַד
But Bileam answered and said to Balak, Did I not tell thee at the beginning, Whatsoever the Lord speaketh, that must I do?
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.
Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 15 words (12 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Bâlâq (“Balak”). The Greek Septuagint runs longer here. A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.
Commentary
Notes on Numbers 23:26 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.
Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →
Trapp's Complete Commentary
John Trapp
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill's Exposition
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.