Numbers 24:15

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:

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;

Amplified Bible
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,

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;

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

¹⁵ 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: ¹⁶ He says, whose ear is open to the words of God, who has knowledge of the Most High, who has seen the vision of the Ruler of all, falling down and having his eyes open: ¹⁷ I see him, but not now: looking on him, but not near: a star will come out of Jacob, and a rod of authority out of Israel, sending destruction to the farthest limits of Moab and on the head of all the sons of Sheth. ¹⁸ Edom will be his heritage, and he will put an end to the last of the people of Seir. ¹⁹ And Israel will go on in strength, and Jacob will have rule over his haters. ²⁰ Then, turning his eyes to Amalek, he went on with his story and said, Amalek was the first of the nations, but his part will be destruction for ever. ²¹ And looking on the Kenites he went on with his story and said, Strong is your living-place, and your secret place is safe in the rock. ²² But still the Kenites will be wasted, till Asshur takes you away prisoner. ²³ Then he went on with his story and said, But who may keep his life when God does this? ²⁴ But ships will come from the direction of Kittim, troubling Asshur and troubling Eber, and like the others their fate will be 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
These are the generations of Terah: Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot.

Genesis 21:14
And early in the morning Abraham got up, and gave Hagar some bread and a water-skin, and put the boy on her back, and sent her away: and she went, wandering in the waste land of Beer-sheba.

Genesis 24:18
And she said, Take a drink, my lord: and quickly letting down her vessel onto her hand, she gave him a drink.

Genesis 24:19
And having done so, she said, I will get water for your camels till they have had enough.

Genesis 24:20
And after putting the water from her vessel into the animals' drinking-place, she went quickly back to the spring and got water for all the camels.

Genesis 24:23
And said to her, Whose daughter are you? is there room in your father's house for us?

Genesis 24:24
And she said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, Nahor's wife.

Genesis 24:36
And when Sarah, my master's wife, was old, she gave birth to a son, to whom he has given all he has.

Genesis 24:40
And he said, The Lord, whom I have ever kept before me, will send his angel with you, who will make it possible for you to get a wife for my son from my relations and my father's house;

Genesis 24:45
And even while I was saying this to myself, Rebekah came out with her vessel on her arm; and she went down to the spring to get water; and I said to her, Give me 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 open — Numbers 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.