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Thursday, August 28th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Numbers 22:2

When King Balak of Moab and his people heard how many Israelites there were and what they had done to the Amorites, he and the Moabites were terrified and panicked.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Zippor;   Thompson Chain Reference - Balak;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Moabites;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Midianites;   Moabites;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Balaam;   Moab;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Balak;   Moabite;   Zippor;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Balak;   Transjordan;   Zippor;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Balaam;   Balak;   Moab, Moabites;   Numbers, Book of;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Zippor ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Balak;   Midian;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Zip'por;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - On to Canaan;   Moses, the Man of God;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Numbers, Book of;   Zippor;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Balak;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Bemidbar Rabbah;   Hafṭarah;   Joshua, the Samaritan Book of;   Sidra;   Zippor;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that Yisra'el had done to the Amori.
King James Version
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
Lexham English Bible
Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel did to the Amorites,
English Standard Version
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
New Century Version
Balak son of Zippor saw everything the Israelites had done to the Amorites.
New English Translation
Balak son of Zippor saw all that the Israelites had done to the Amorites.
Amplified Bible
And Balak [the king of Moab] the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
New American Standard Bible
Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Now Balak the sonne of Zippor sawe all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
Legacy Standard Bible
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
Complete Jewish Bible
Then the people of Isra'el traveled on and camped in the plains of Mo'av beyond the Yarden River, opposite Yericho. Haftarah Hukkat: Shof'tim (Judges) 11:1–33 B'rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Hukkat: Yochanan (John) 3:9–21; 4:3–30; 12:27–50 [In regular years read with Parashah 39, in leap years read separately] Now Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that Isra'el had done to the Emori.
Darby Translation
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
Easy-to-Read Version
Balak son of Zippor saw everything the Israelites had done to the Amorites. The king of Moab was very frightened of the Israelites because there were so many of them. He was very afraid.
George Lamsa Translation
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
Good News Translation
When the king of Moab, Balak son of Zippor, heard what the Israelites had done to the Amorites and how many Israelites there were,
Christian Standard Bible®
Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
Literal Translation
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And whan Balac ye sonne of Ziphor sawe all that Israel had done vnto the Amorites,
American Standard Version
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
Bible in Basic English
Now Balak, the son of Zippor, saw what Israel had done to the Amorites.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Balac the sonne of Ziphor, sawe all that Israel had done to ye Amorites.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
King James Version (1611)
And Balak the sonne of Zippor, saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And when Balac son of Sepphor saw all that Israel did to the Amorite,
English Revised Version
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
Berean Standard Bible
Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites,
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe Balach, the sone of Sephor, siy alle thingis whiche Israel hadde do to Ammorrei,
Young's Literal Translation
And Balak son of Zippor seeth all that Israel hath done to the Amorite,
Update Bible Version
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
Webster's Bible Translation
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
World English Bible
Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
New King James Version
Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
New Living Translation
Balak son of Zippor, the Moabite king, had seen everything the Israelites did to the Amorites.
New Life Bible
Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
New Revised Standard
Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And Balak son of Zipper saw all that Israel had done unto the Amorites;
Douay-Rheims Bible
And Balac the son of Sephor, seeing all that Israel had done to the Amorrhite,
Revised Standard Version
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
THE MESSAGE
Balak son of Zippor learned of all that Israel had done to the Amorites. The people of Moab were in a total panic because of Israel. There were so many of them! They were terrorized.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Contextual Overview

1 Israel moved from there to the hills of Moab, where they camped across the Jordan River from the town of Jericho. 2When King Balak of Moab and his people heard how many Israelites there were and what they had done to the Amorites, he and the Moabites were terrified and panicked. 4 They said to the Midianite leaders, "That bunch of Israelites will wipe out everything in sight, like a bull eating grass in a field." So King Balak 5 sent a message to Balaam son of Beor who lived among his relatives in the town of Pethor near the Euphrates River. It said: I need your help. A huge group of people has come here from Egypt and settled near my territory. 6 They are too powerful for us to defeat, so would you come and place a curse on them? Maybe then we can run them off. I know that anyone you bless will be successful, but anyone you curse will fail. 7 The leaders of Moab and Midian left and took along money to pay Balaam for his work. When they got to his house, they gave him Balak's message. 8 "Spend the night here," Balaam replied, "and tomorrow I will tell you the Lord 's answer." So the officials stayed at his house. 9 During the night, God asked Balaam, "Who are these people at your house?" 10 "They are messengers from King Balak of Moab," Balaam answered. "He sent them 11 to ask me to go to Moab and place a curse on the people who have come there from Egypt. They have settled everywhere around him, and he wants to run them off."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Numbers 21:3, Numbers 21:20-35, Judges 11:25

Reciprocal: Numbers 22:4 - And Balak

Cross-References

Genesis 17:19
But God answered: No! You and Sarah will have a son. His name will be Isaac, and I will make an everlasting promise to him and his descendants.
Genesis 21:12
But God said, "Abraham, don't worry about your slave woman and the boy. Just do what Sarah tells you. Isaac will inherit your family name,
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 22:12
"Don't hurt the boy or harm him in any way!" the angel said. "Now I know that you truly obey God, because you were willing to offer him your only son."
Genesis 22:16
You were willing to offer the Lord your only son, and so he makes you this solemn promise,
Judges 11:31
and come home safely, I will sacrifice to you whoever comes out to meet me first."
Judges 11:39
Then she went back to her father. He did what he had promised, and she never got married. That's why
2 Kings 3:27
He then grabbed his oldest son who was to be the next king and sacrificed him as an offering on the city wall. The Israelite troops were so horrified that they left the city and went back home.
2 Chronicles 3:1
Solomon's workers began building the temple in Jerusalem on the second day of the second month, four years after Solomon had become king of Israel. It was built on Mount Moriah where the Lord had appeared to David at the threshing place that had belonged to Araunah from Jebus.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. The word "Amorites" being particularly pointed, shows, as Aben Ezra observes, that Sihon and Og are both meant, and that there were not among the kings of the land of Canaan any so great as they; wherefore when Balak, who was the present king of Moab, saw what Israel had done to them, that they had conquered them, and seized upon their kingdoms: he reasoned within himself, and said, as Jarchi represents him, that if they could not stand before Israel, much less could he and his people; and the rather, since those kings Israel had subdued were too powerful for the king of Moab, and had taken part of his country from him, and yet Israel was too strong for them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Balak the son of Zippor - The comparison of Numbers 22:4 with Numbers 21:26 suggests that Balak was not the hereditary king but a Midianite, and that a change of dynasty had taken place. His father’s name, Zippor, “Bird,” reminds us of those of other Midianites, e. g., Oreb, “Crow,” Zeeb, “Wolf.” Possibly the Midianite chieftains had taken advantage of the weakness of the Moabites after the Amorite victories to establish themselves as princes in the land.


 
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