Numbers 24:3

Bible in Basic English

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:

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
He uttered his oracle and said, "The declaration of Balaam son Beor, the declaration of the man whose eyes are 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
and he 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 [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],

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
and Balaam said: "I am the son of Beor, and my words are true, so listen to my message!

Complete Jewish Bible
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;

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
and he 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
and he uttered this prophecy: "The message of Balaam son of Beor, The words of the man who can see clearly,

Christian Standard Bible®
and 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 have been opened;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and he toke vp his parable, and sayde: Thus sayeth Balaam the sonne of Beor:

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, and the man whose eyes 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 he 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, Balaam son of Beor says, the man who sees truly says,

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
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,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
he seide, Balaam, the sone of Beor, seide, a man whois iye is stoppid seide,

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
Then he took up his oracle and said: "The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, The utterance of the man whose eyes are opened,

New Living Translation
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,

New Life Bible
He began speaking and said, "Balaam the son of Beor is the man whose eye is opened.

New Revised Standard
and 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
and he took up his parable, and said, - The oracle of Balaam, son of Beor, Yea the oracle of the man, of opened eye;

Douay-Rheims Bible
He took up his parable and said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man hath said, whose eye is stopped up:

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

¹ Now when Balaam saw that it was the Lord's pleasure to give his blessing to Israel, he did not, as at other times, make use of secret arts, but turning his face to the waste land, ² And lifting up his eyes, he saw Israel there, with their tents in the order of their tribes: and the spirit of God came on him. ³ 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: ⁴ He says, whose ears are open to the words of God, who has seen the vision of the Ruler of all, falling down, but having his eyes open: ⁵ How fair are your tents, O Jacob, your houses, O Israel! ⁶ They are stretched out like valleys, like gardens by the riverside, like flowering trees planted by the Lord, like cedar-trees by the waters. ⁷ Peoples will be in fear before his strength, his arm will be on great nations: his king will be higher than Agag, and his kingdom made great in honour. ⁸ It is God who has taken him out of Egypt; his horns are like those of the mountain ox; the nations warring against him will be his food, their bones will be broken, they will be wounded with his arrows. ⁹ He took his sleep stretched out like a lion, and like a she-lion: by whom will his rest be broken? May a blessing be on everyone who gives you blessing, and a curse on everyone by whom you are cursed.

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

Genesis 6:2
The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took wives for themselves from those who were pleasing to them.

Genesis 6:4
There were men of great strength and size on the earth in those days; and after that, when the sons of God had connection with the daughters of men, they gave birth to children: these were the great men of old days, the men of great name.

Genesis 14:19
And blessing him, said, May the blessing of the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth, be on Abram:

Genesis 14:22
But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have taken an oath to the Lord, the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth,

Genesis 21:23
Now, then, give me your oath, in the name of God, that you will not be false to me or to my sons after me, but that as I have been good to you, so you will be to me and to this land where you have been living.

Genesis 24:3
And take an oath by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not get a wife for my son Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am living;

Genesis 24:4
But that you will go into my country and to my relations and get a wife there for my son Isaac.

Genesis 24:14
Now, may the girl to whom I say, Let down your vessel and give me a drink, and who says in answer, Here is a drink for you and let me give water to your camels: may she be the one marked out by you for your servant Isaac: so may I be certain that you have been good to my master Abraham.

Genesis 24:15
And even before his words were ended, Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, who was the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her water-vessel on her arm.

Genesis 24:17
And the servant came running to her and said, Give me a little water from your vessel.

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."