Numbers 23:10

Christian Standard Bible ®

Who has counted the dust of Jacobor numbered even one-fourth of Israel?Let me die the death of the upright;let the end of my life be like theirs.

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!"

Update Bible Version
Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, And let my last end be like his!

English Revised Version
Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, And let my last end be like his!

New Century Version
No one can number the many people of Jacob, and no one can count a fourth of Israel. Let me die like good men, and let me end up like them!"

New English Translation
Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let the end of my life be like theirs."

Webster's Bible Translation
Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth [part] of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!

World English Bible
Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, Let my last end be like his!

Amplified Bible
"Who can count the dust (the descendants) of Jacob And the number of even the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous [those who are upright and in right standing with God], And let my end be like his!"

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Who may noumbre the dust, that is, kynrede, of Jacob, and knowe the noumbre of the generacioun of Israel? My lijf die in the deeth of iust men, and my laste thingis be maad lijk hem!

Young's Literal Translation
Who hath counted the dust of Jacob, And the number of the fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of upright ones, And let my last end be like his!'

Berean Standard Bible
Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous; let my end be like theirs!"

Contemporary English Version
They are living alone in peace. And though they are many, they don't bother the other nations. "I hope to obey God for as long as I live and to die in such peace."

American Standard Version
Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, And let my last end be like his!

Bible in Basic English
Who is able to take the measure of the dust of Jacob or the number of the thousands of Israel? May my death be the death of the upright and my last end like his!

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Who can tell the dust of Iacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? I pray God that my soule may dye the death of the righteous, and that my last ende may be like his.

Complete Jewish Bible
"Who has counted the dust of Ya‘akov or numbered the ashes of Isra'el? May I die as the righteous die! May my end be like theirs!"

Darby Translation
Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his!

Easy-to-Read Version
Who can count Jacob's people? They are as many as the grains of dust. No one can count even a fourth of the Israelites. Let me die like a good man. Let my life end as happy as theirs!"

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Who hath counted the dust of Jacob, or numbered the stock of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let mine end be like his!

King James Version (1611)
Who can count the dust of Iacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let mee die the death of the righteous, & let my last end be like his.

New Life Bible
Who can number the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of those who are right and good. Let my end be like theirs!"

New Revised Standard
Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the dust-cloud of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Who hath counted the dust of Jacob? Or who hath numbered the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, And let my hereafter be like his!

Geneva Bible (1587)
Who can tell the dust of Iaakob, and the nomber of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last ende be like his.

George Lamsa Translation
Who can count the multitude of the descendants of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like theirs!

Good News Translation
The descendants of Israel are like the dust— There are too many of them to be counted. Let me end my days like one of God's people; Let me die in peace like the righteous."

Douay-Rheims Bible
Who can count the dust of Jacob, and know the number of the stock of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the just, and my last end be like to them.

Revised Standard Version
Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his!"

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Who has exactly calculated the seed of Jacob, and who shall number the families of Israel? let my soul die with the souls of the righteous, and let my seed be as their seed.

Hebrew Names Version
Who can count the dust of Ya`akov, Or number the fourth part of Yisra'el? Let me die the death of the righteous, Let my last end be like his!

King James Version
Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!

Lexham English Bible
Who can count the dust of Jacob, or as a number the fourth part of Israel? Let my life die the death of an upright person, and let my end be like his!"

Literal Translation
Who can count Jacob's dust, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Who can tell the dust of Iacob, & the nombre of the fourth parte of Israel? My soule die ye death of ye righteous, and my ende be as the ende of these.

New American Standard Bible
"Who has counted the dust of Jacob, Or the number of the fourth part of Israel? May I die the death of the upright, And may my end be like his!"

New King James Version
"Who can count the dust [fn] of Jacob,Or number one-fourth of Israel?Let me die the death of the righteous,And let my end be like his!"

New Living Translation
Who can count Jacob's descendants, as numerous as dust? Who can count even a fourth of Israel's people? Let me die like the righteous; let my life end like theirs."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, And let my end be like his!"

Legacy Standard Bible
Who can number the dust of Jacob,Or count the fourth part of Israel?Let me die the death of the upright,And let my end be like his!"

Contextual Overview

¹Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” ²So Balak did as Balaam directed, and they offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ³Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone. Maybe the Lord will meet with me. I will tell you whatever he reveals to me.” So he went to a barren hill. ⁴God met with him and Balaam said to him, “I have arranged seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.” ⁵Then the Lord put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and say what I tell you.” ⁶So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with all the officials of Moab. ⁷Balaam proclaimed his poem: ⁸How can I curse someone God has not cursed?How can I denounce someone the Lord has not denounced? ⁹I see them from the top of rocky cliffs,and I watch them from the hills.There is a people living alone;it does not consider itself among the nations. ¹⁰Who has counted the dust of Jacobor numbered even one-fourth of Israel?Let me die the death of the upright;let the end of my life be like theirs.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

can count: Genesis 13:16, Genesis 22:17, Genesis 28:14

the dust: i.e. The posterity of Jacob, which was to be so numerous as to resemble the dust.

the fourth: Numbers 2:9, Numbers 2:16, Numbers 2:24, Numbers 2:31

me: Heb. my soul, or, my life

the death: Psalms 37:37, Psalms 116:15, Proverbs 14:32, Isaiah 57:1, Isaiah 57:2, Luke 2:29, Luke 2:30, 1 Corinthians 3:21, 1 Corinthians 3:22, 1 Corinthians 15:53-57, 2 Corinthians 5:1, Philippians 1:21-23, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 2 Peter 1:13-15, Revelation 14:13

Reciprocal: Leviticus 1:3 - a burnt Numbers 1:46 - General Numbers 2:34 - so they Numbers 24:2 - abiding 1 Kings 13:31 - lay my bones 2 Chronicles 1:9 - like the dust Proverbs 13:4 - desireth Proverbs 19:20 - be Ecclesiastes 7:2 - that Isaiah 26:15 - increased Romans 6:22 - and the end

Cross-References

Genesis 23:1
Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were all the years of her life.

Genesis 23:3
Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hethites:

Genesis 23:4
“I am an alien residing among you. Give me burial property among you so that I can bury my dead.”

Genesis 23:18
Abraham’s possession in the sight of all the Hethites who came to the gate of his city.

Genesis 24:10
The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and with all kinds of his master’s goods in hand, he went to Aram-naharaim, to Nahor’s town.

Genesis 34:20
So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city.

Genesis 34:24
All the men who had come to the city gates listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and all those men were circumcised.

Job 29:7
When I went out to the city gateand took my seat in the town square,

Isaiah 28:6
a spirit of justiceto the one who sits in judgment,and strengthto those who repel attacks at the city gate.

Matthew 9:1
So he got into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own town.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Who can count, the dust of Jacob,.... The people of Israel, their posterity so called, not because of their original, the dust of the earth, but because of their numbers, being as numerous as the dust of the earth, or sand of the sea, as it was promised they should be,

Genesis 28:14 and which is here confirmed by the prophecy of Balaam:

and the number of the fourth part of Israel; one of the four camps of Israel, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; for this people was divided into four camps, under so many standards, which were those of Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan, see Numbers 2:1, and one of them is represented by Balaam as so numerous, as not to be counted, or should be so, see Hosea 1:10. The spiritual Israel of God, though comparatively few, are in themselves, and will be when all together, a great number, which no man can number, Revelation 7:9:

let me die the death of the righteous; which are among them, as Jarchi, among the Israelites; for they were not all righteous, nor are any, of themselves, or by their own works, but by the righteousness of Christ: or the death of the upright ones a; such as are upright in heart and life, who have right spirits renewed in them, and walk uprightly according to the rule of the divine word; such as are Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile; the word used is pretty near, in sound and signification, to Jeshurun, one of the names of Israel,

Deuteronomy 32:15, the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem render it,

"the death of the true ones,''

who are truly righteous and upright, truly gracious persons; who have the truth of grace, and the root of the matter in them: these die as well as others, yet their death is different from others, not in the thing itself, but in the concomitants and consequences of it; they die in the Lord, in union to him, in faith of him, in hope of eternal life by him, and their death is precious to him; and in consequence of this they are carried by angels to glory at death are immediately in heaven with Christ, and it will be well with them to all eternity. Balaam had some notion of this; and though he did not care to live the life of such, he wished to die their death, or that he might be as happy at death as they; by which he bears a testimony to the immortality of the soul, to a future state after death, and to an eternal life and happiness to be enjoyed by good men:

and let my last end be like his; which is a phrase expressive of much the same thing as before: death is the end of a man in this world; and the end of a righteous man in it is peace, rest, salvation, and eternal life, or is what follows upon it, and he then enters into: some render it, "my reward" b, which comes to much the same sense, the above being the righteous man's reward, not in a way of debt, but grace; others render the word, "my posterity" c; but it is not certain Balaam had any, and if he had, his concern seems to be more for himself than for them.

a ישרים rectorum, Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator. b אחריתי see Prov. xxiv. 20. c το σπερμα μου Sept.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The fourth part of Israel - i. e., each one of the four camps, into which the host of Israel was divided (see Numbers 2:0), seemed to swarm with innumerable multitudes. Possibly Balaam could only see one camp. Balaam bears testimony in this verse to the fulfillment of the promises in Genesis 13:16; Genesis 28:14.

The righteous - i. e., the ancestors of Israel, who “died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off” Hebrews 11:13. With their histories Balaam was familiar, particularly with that of Abraham, “the righteous man” whom God had “raised up from the east (and) called to His foot” Isaiah 41:2.

Let my last end be like his - Render rather, “last estate,” for the reference is not so much to the act of death, as to all that followed upon it - to the future, in which the name and influence of the deceased person would be perpetuated.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 23:10. Let me die the death of the righteous — Probably Balaam had some presentiment that he should be taken off by a premature death, and therefore he lodges this petition against it. The death of the righteous in those times implied being gathered to one's fathers in a good old age, having seen his children, and children's children; and to this, probably, the latter part of this petition applies: And let my last end be like his, (ותהי אחריתי כמהו uthehi acharithi chamohu, And let my POSTERITY be like his.) It has been generally supposed that Balaam is here praying for a happy death, such as true Christians die who die in the Lord; and in this way his words are generally applied; but I am satisfied this is not their meaning. The prayer, however, understood in the common way, is a good one, and may be offered to God profitably. A righteous man is one who is saved from his sins, who is justified and sanctified through the blood of the covenant, and who lives, not only an innocent, but also a holy and useful life. He who would die well should live well; for a bad death must be the issue of a bad life.