Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, August 12th, 2025
the Week of Proper 14 / Ordinary 19
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Amplified Bible

Numbers 24:15

He took up his [fourth] discourse (oracle) and said: "The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, The oracle of the man whose eye is opened,

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Prophets;   Thompson Chain Reference - Balaam;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Poetry of the Hebrews;   Prophets;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Balaam;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Word;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Beor;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Poetry;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Balaam;   Balak;   Beor;   God;   Moab, Moabites;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Targums;   Trance;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Balaam;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Be'or;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - On to Canaan;   Moses, the Man of God;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Balaam;   Beor;   Close;   King, Christ as;   Proverb;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Balaam;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Beor;   Poetry;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
He took up his parable, and said, Bil`am the son of Be'or says, The man whose eye was closed says;
King James Version
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
Lexham English Bible
And he uttered his oracle and said, "The declaration of Balaam son of Beor, and the declaration of the man whose eye is closed,
English Standard Version
And he took up his discourse and said, "The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,
New Century Version
Then Balaam gave this message: "This is the message of Balaam son of Beor, the message of a man who sees clearly;
New English Translation
Then he uttered this oracle: "The oracle of Balaam son of Beor; the oracle of the man whose eyes are open;
New American Standard Bible
Then he took up his discourse and said, "The declaration of Balaam the son of Beor, And the declaration of the man whose eye is opened,
Geneva Bible (1587)
And he vttered his parable, and sayd, Balaam the sonne of Beor hath sayde, and the man whose eyes were shut vp, hath sayd,
Legacy Standard Bible
Then he took up his discourse and said,"The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,And the oracle of the man whose eye is uncovered,
Contemporary English Version
Balaam said: "I am the son of Beor, and my words are true, so listen to my message!
Complete Jewish Bible
So he made his pronouncement: "This is the speech of Bil‘am, son of B‘or; the speech of the man whose eyes have been opened;
Darby Translation
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, and the man of opened eye saith,
Easy-to-Read Version
Then Balaam gave this message: "This message is from Balaam son of Beor. I am speaking about things I see clearly.
George Lamsa Translation
And he took up his parable and said, Balaam the son of Beor has said, and the man whose eyes are open has said;
Good News Translation
Then he uttered this prophecy: "The message of Balaam son of Beor, The words of the man who can see clearly,
Christian Standard Bible®
Then he proclaimed his poem:
Literal Translation
And he took up his parable and said, The saying of Balaam the son of Beor, and the saying of the man whose eyes are opened;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And he toke vp his parable, and sayde: Thus sayeth Balaam the sonne of Beor: Thus sayeth ye man, whose eyes are opened:
American Standard Version
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, And the man whose eye was closed saith;
Bible in Basic English
Then he went on with his story and said, These are the words of Balaam, the son of Beor, the words of him whose eyes are open:
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he toke vp his parable and sayd: Balaam the sonne of Beor hath sayde, the man whose eye is open, hath sayde:
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he took up his parable, and said: The saying of Balaam the son of Beor, and the saying of the man whose eye is opened;
King James Version (1611)
And hee tooke vp his parable, and said, Balaam the sonne of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open, hath said:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he took up his parable and said,
English Revised Version
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, And the man whose eye was closed saith:
Berean Standard Bible
Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying, "This is the prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of a man whose eyes are open,
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor whanne a parable was takun, he seide eft, Balaam, the sone of Beor seide, a man whos iye is stoppid,
Young's Literal Translation
And he taketh up his simile, and saith: `An affirmation of Balaam son of Beor -- And an affirmation of the man whose eyes [are] shut --
Update Bible Version
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor says, And the [special] man whose eye was closed says;
Webster's Bible Translation
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
World English Bible
He took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor says, The man whose eye was closed says;
New King James Version
So he took up his oracle and said: "The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, And the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened;
New Living Translation
This is the message Balaam delivered: "This is the message of Balaam son of Beor, the message of the man whose eyes see clearly,
New Life Bible
Then he began speaking and said, "Balaam the son of Beor is the man whose eye is opened.
New Revised Standard
So he uttered his oracle, saying: "The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is clear,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So he took up his parable and said, - The oracle of Balaam, son of Beer, Yea the oracle of the man, of opened eye;
Douay-Rheims Bible
Therefore taking up his parable, again he said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man whose eye is stopped up, hath said:
Revised Standard Version
And he took up his discourse, and said, "The oracle of Balaam the son of Be'or, the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,
New American Standard Bible (1995)
He took up his discourse and said, "The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,

Contextual Overview

15He took up his [fourth] discourse (oracle) and said: "The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, The oracle of the man whose eye is opened,16The oracle of him who hears the words of God And knows the knowledge of the Most High, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, but having his eyes open and uncovered: 17I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star shall come forth from [the descendants of] Jacob, A scepter shall rise out of [the descendants of] Israel And shall crush the forehead of Moab And destroy all the sons of Sheth. 18"Edom shall be [taken as] a possession, [Mount] Seir, Israel's enemies, also will be a possession, While Israel performs valiantly. 19"One from [the descendants of] Jacob shall have dominion And will destroy the remnant from the city." 20Balaam looked at Amalek and took up his [fifth] discourse (oracle) and said: "Amalek was the first of the [neighboring] nations [to oppose the Israelites after they left Egypt], But his end shall be destruction." 21And Balaam looked at the Kenites and took up his [sixth] discourse (oracle) and said: "Strong is your dwelling place, And you set your nest in the cliff. 22"Nevertheless the Kenites will be consumed. How long will Asshur (Assyria) keep you (Israel) captive?" 23Then he took up his [seventh] discourse (oracle) and said: "Alas, who can live unless God has ordained it? 24"But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim, And shall afflict Asshur (Assyria) and Eber; So they (the victors) also will come to destruction."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Numbers 24:3, Numbers 24:4, Numbers 23:7, Numbers 23:18, Job 27:1, Matthew 13:35

Reciprocal: Proverbs 18:2 - but Micah 2:4 - shall 1 Corinthians 13:2 - I have the Hebrews 6:4 - were once

Cross-References

Genesis 11:27
Now these are the records of the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram (Abraham), Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot.
Genesis 21:14
So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she left [but lost her way] and wandered [aimlessly] in the Wilderness of Beersheba.
Genesis 24:18
And she said, "Drink, my lord"; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink.
Genesis 24:19
When she had given Eliezer a drink, she said, "I will also draw water for your camels until they have finished drinking."
Genesis 24:20
So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran again to the well and drew water for all his camels.
Genesis 24:23
and said, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to lodge?"
Genesis 24:24
And she said to him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah's son, whom she bore to [her husband] Nahor."
Genesis 24:36
"Now Sarah my master's wife bore a son to my master when she was in her old age, and he has given everything that he has to him.
Genesis 24:40
"He said to me, 'The LORD, before whom I walk [habitually and obediently], will send His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father's house;
Genesis 24:45
"Before I had finished praying in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her [water] jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. And I said to her, 'Please, let me have a drink.'

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he took up his parable, and said,.... In this and the following verse; the same preface, in the same words, is made to his prophecy as before, :- :-; only one clause is added, "and knew the knowledge of the Most High"; that Balaam had some knowledge of God is certain from the names by which he calls him, being such that he made himself known by to the patriarchs, and by which he is frequently called in the sacred writings; but then this knowledge of his was merely notional and speculative, and not spiritual and supernatural, and was such as men may have who are destitute of the grace of God: he was one that professed to know him in words, but in works denied him, see 1 Corinthians 13:2 and he also was admitted to much nearness to God, and converse with him, of which he boasted; but then this was not for his own sake, or as a mark of friendship to him, but for the sake of the people of Israel, and to prevent his doing them mischief. His prophecy follows.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 24:15. The man whose eyes are openNumbers 24:3. It seems strange that our version should have fallen into such a mistake as to render שתם shethum, open, which it does not signify, when the very sound of the word expresses the sense. The Vulgate has very properly preserved the true meaning, by rendering the clause cujus obturatus est oculus, he whose eyes are shut. The Targum first paraphrased the passage falsely, and most of the versions followed it.


 
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