Numbers 23:21

Perverseness. This statement emphatically declares that so long as Israel remained true to God no evil would befall the nation. The word translated “iniquity” denotes wrongdoing, idolatry, false speaking, or any departure from God’s will, as that which in the end will prove to be unprofitable. There is a moral relationship between sin and its just due expressed by this word. “Perverseness” stresses the fact that sin has made life something heavy to be borne; it has made of the normal pursuits of life a burden grievous to bear. This word is commonly translated “toil” (Gen. 41:51), “sorrow” (Job 3:10; Ps. 55:10), “trouble” (Job 5:6, 7), “wearisome” (Job 7:3), “pain” (Ps. 25:18), “painful” (Ps. 73:16), and “labour” (Ps. 90:10).

The shout. Literally, “the blast of a horn,” sounded as an alarm, or for joy, or in religious fervor (see Lev. 23:24; Ps. 47:5; Jer. 4:19). Possibly here “a shout of joy” is meant.