the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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New King James Version
Numbers 24:3
Bible Study Resources
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- CondensedParallel Translations
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;
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;
And he toke vp his parable and sayd: Balaam the sonne of Beor hath sayde, and the man whose eyes is open hath sayde:
and he gave this message: "This message is from Balaam son of Beor. I am speaking about things I see clearly.
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,
He took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor says, The man whose eye was closed says;
And he tooke vp his parable, and said, Balaam the sonne of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
and he toke vp his parable, and sayde: Thus sayeth Balaam the sonne of Beor:
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, And the man whose eye was closed saith;
And moved by the spirit, he said, These are the words of Balaam, son of Beor, the words of the man whose eyes are open:
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor says, And the [special] man whose eye was closed says;
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
Then he uttered this oracle: "The oracle of Balaam son of Beor; the oracle of the man whose eyes are open;
and Balaam said: "I am the son of Beor, and my words are true, so listen to my message!
and 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;
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, and the man of opened eye saith,
And he vttered his parable, and sayd, Balaam the sonne of Beor hath sayde, and the man, whose eyes were shut vp, hath sayd,
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor has said, and the man whose eyes are open has said;
and he uttered this prophecy: "The message of Balaam son of Beor, The words of the man who can see clearly,
He took up his [third] discourse (oracle) and said: "The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened [at last, to see clearly the purpose and will of God],
He took up his parable, and said, Bil`am the son of Be'or says, The man whose eye was closed says;
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;
and this is the message he delivered: "This is the message of Balaam son of Beor, the message of the man whose eyes see clearly,
He began speaking and said, "Balaam the son of Beor is the man whose eye is opened.
and he uttered his oracle, saying: "The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is clear,
And he took up his parable and said, Balaam son of Beor says, the man who sees truly says,
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, And the man whose eye was closed saith:
and he lifted up an oracle, saying: "This is the prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of a man whose eyes are open,
and he took up his parable, and said, - The oracle of Balaam, son of Beor, Yea the oracle of the man, of opened eye;
He took up his parable and said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man hath said, whose eye is stopped up:
He uttered his oracle and said, "The declaration of Balaam son Beor, the declaration of the man whose eyes are closed,
And he took up his parable and said, The saying of Balaam the son of Beor, and the saying of the man whose eyes have been opened;
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,
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;
and he gave this message: "This is the message of Balaam son of Beor, the message of a man who sees clearly;
and he proclaimed his poem: The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eyes are opened,
he seide, Balaam, the sone of Beor, seide, a man whois iye is stoppid seide,
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 --
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
he took up: Numbers 23:7, Numbers 23:18
whose eyes are open hath said: Heb. who had his eyes shut, but now opened, Numbers 24:4, Numbers 24:16, Numbers 22:31
Reciprocal: Numbers 24:15 - General Job 27:1 - Job Micah 2:4 - shall 1 Corinthians 14:37 - any Hebrews 6:4 - were once
Cross-References
that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
And he blessed him and said: "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;
But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth,
Now therefore, swear to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt."
and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell;
but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac."
Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, "Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,' and she says, "Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink'--let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master."
And it happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder.
And the servant ran to meet her and said, "Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher."
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And he took up his parable,.... His parable of prophecy, as the Targums, his prophetic speech, which, with a loud voice, he expressed in the hearing of Balak and his nobles:
and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said; the preface to his prophecy is pompous, and seems to be full of pride and vanity, and so the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem represent him;
"the man who is more excellent than his father hath said, to whom hidden secrets, even what was hidden from the prophets is revealed to him;''
and the Jews have a saying t that he that has an evil eye, a haughty spirit, and a large soul, or is covetous, is one of the disciples of Balaam the wicked:
and the man whose eyes are open hath said; or, as some u render it, whose eyes were shut, but now open; either the eyes of his body, which were shut when the angel met him, and the ass saw him and not he, but afterwards were open, and he saw him also; or the eyes of his understanding blinded with ambition and covetousness, but were open to see his mistake, at least so far as to be sensible that he could never prevail upon God to allow him to curse Israel; or rather open, by the spirit of prophecy coming on him, whereby he saw and foretold things to come.
t Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 19. u So V. L. Montanus, Tigurine version, &c.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Whose eyes are open - i. e., opened in inward vision, to discern things that were hidden from ordinary beholders.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Numbers 24:3. He took up his parable — His prophetic declaration couched in highly poetic terms, and in regular metre, as the preceding were.
The man whose eyes are open — I believe the original שתם shethum, should be translated shut, not open; for in the next verse, where the opening of his eyes is mentioned, a widely different word is used, גלה galah, which signifies to open or reveal. At first the eyes of Balaam were shut, and so closely too that he could not see the angel who withstood him, till God opened his eyes; nor could he see the gracious intentions of God towards Israel, till the eyes of his understanding were opened by the powers of the Divine Spirit. This therefore he mentions, we may suppose, with humility and gratitude, and to the credit of the prophecy which he is now about to deliver, that the Moabites may receive it as the word of God, which must be fulfilled in due season. His words, in their meaning, are similar to those of the blind man in the Gospel: "Once I was blind, but now I see."
