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Monday, August 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Read the Bible

Brenton's Septuagint

Numbers 23:13

And Balac said to him, Come yet with me to another place where thou shalt not see the people, but only thou shalt see a part of them, and shalt not see them all; and curse me them from thence.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Thompson Chain Reference - Balaam;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Desert, Journey of Israel through the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Camp, Encampments;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Balaam;   Pisgah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Balaam;   Balak;   Kibroth-Hattaavah;   Moab, Moabites;   Prophecy, Prophets;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - On to Canaan;   Moses, the Man of God;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Numbers, Book of;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Balak said to him, Please come with me to another place, from whence you may see them; you shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all: and curse me them from there.
King James Version
And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence.
Lexham English Bible
Then Balak said, "Please walk with me to another place where you will see them, but you will only see part of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there."
English Standard Version
And Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there."
New Century Version
Then Balak said to him, "Come with me to another place, where you can also see the people. But you can only see part of them, not all of them. Curse them for me from there."
New English Translation
Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from which you can observe them. You will see only a part of them, but you will not see all of them. Curse them for me from there."
Amplified Bible
Balak said to him, "Come with me, I implore you, to another place from where you can see them, although you will see only the nearest and not all of them; and curse them for me from there."
New American Standard Bible
Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and put a curse on them for me from there."
Geneva Bible (1587)
And Balak sayde vnto him, Come, I pray thee, with mee vnto another place, whence thou mayest see them, & thou shalt see but the vtmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: therefore curse them out of that place for my sake.
Legacy Standard Bible
Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, but you will only see the end of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there."
Contemporary English Version
Balak said to Balaam, "Let's go somewhere else. Maybe if you see a smaller part of the Israelites, you will be able to curse them for me."
Complete Jewish Bible
(LY: v) Balak said to him, "All right, come with me to another place where you can see them. You will see only some of them, not all; but you can curse them for me from there."
Darby Translation
And Balak said to him, Come, I pray thee, with me to another place, from whence thou wilt see them; thou shalt see only the extremity of them and shalt not see them all, and curse me them from thence.
Easy-to-Read Version
Then Balak said to him, "So come with me to another place. At that place you can see more of these people. You cannot see all of them—you can only see part of them. Maybe from that place you can curse them for me."
George Lamsa Translation
And Balak said to him, Come with me to another place, from which you may see them; but you shall see the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all; and curse them for me from thence.
Good News Translation
Then Balak said to Balaam, "Come with me to another place from which you can see only some of the Israelites. Curse them for me from there."
Christian Standard Bible®
Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the outskirts of their camp; you won’t see all of them. From there, put a curse on them for me.”
Literal Translation
And Balak said to him, Now come with me to another place where you will see it; only you will see its edge and shall not see all of it; and curse it for me there.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Balac saide vnto him: Come wt me yet vnto another place, fro whence thou mayest se ye vttemost parte of them, & not se them all, and curse me them there.
American Standard Version
And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence.
Bible in Basic English
And Balak said to him, Come with me now into another place from which you will not be able to see them all, but only the outskirts of them; and you will send curses on them from there.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Balac sayde vnto hym: Come I pray thee with me vnto another place, whence thou mayest see them, and thou shalt see but the vtmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: curse them out of that place for my sake.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Balak said unto him: 'Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all; and curse me them from thence.'
King James Version (1611)
And Balak said vnto him, Come, I pray thee, with me, vnto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the vtmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence.
English Revised Version
And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence.
Berean Standard Bible
Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the outskirts of their camp-not all of them. And from there, curse them for me."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor Balaach seide to Balaam, Come with me in to anothir place, fro whennus thou se a part of Israel, and mayst not se al; fro thennus curse thou hym.
Young's Literal Translation
And Balak saith unto him, `Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, whence thou dost see it, only its extremity thou dost see, and all of it thou dost not see, and pierce it for me thence;'
Update Bible Version
And Balak said to him, Come, I pray you, with me to another place, from where you may see them; you shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all: and curse them for me from there.
Webster's Bible Translation
And Balak said to him, Come, I pray thee, with me to another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and from thence curse them for me.
World English Bible
Balak said to him, Please come with me to another place, from whence you may see them; you shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all: and curse me them from there.
New King James Version
Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only the outer part of them, and shall not see them all; curse them for me from there."
New Living Translation
Then King Balak told him, "Come with me to another place. There you will see another part of the nation of Israel, but not all of them. Curse at least that many!"
New Life Bible
Balak said to him, "I beg you, come with me to another place from where you will see them. But you will only see a part of them and not all of them. Curse them for me from there."
New Revised Standard
So Balak said to him, "Come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only part of them, and shall not see them all; then curse them for me from there."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then said Balak unto him - Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see him, nothing but his utmost part, shalt thou see, but all of him, shalt thou not see, - and so revile me him from thence.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Balac therefore said: Come with me to another place from whence thou mayest see part of Israel, and canst not see them all: curse them from thence.
Revised Standard Version
And Balak said to him, "Come with me to another place, from which you may see them; you shall see only the nearest of them, and shall not see them all; then curse them for me from there."
THE MESSAGE
Balak said to him, "Go with me to another place from which you can only see the outskirts of their camp—you won't be able to see the whole camp. From there, curse them for my sake."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there."

Contextual Overview

13 And Balac said to him, Come yet with me to another place where thou shalt not see the people, but only thou shalt see a part of them, and shalt not see them all; and curse me them from thence. 14 And he took him to a high place of the field to the top of the quarried rock, and he built there seven altars, and offered a calf and a ram on every altar. 15 And Balaam said to Balac, Stand by thy sacrifice, and I will go to enquire of God. 16 And God met Balaam, and put a word into his mouth, and said, return to Balac, and thus shalt thou speak. 17 And he returned to him: and he also was standing by his whole-burnt-sacrifice, and all the princes of Moab with him; and Balac said to him, What has the Lord spoken? 18 And he took up his parable, and said, rise up, Balac, and hear; hearken as a witness, thou son of Sepphor. 19 God is not as man to waver, nor as the son of man to be threatened; shall he say and not perform? shall he speak and not keep to his word? 20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: I will bless, and not turn back. 21 There shall not be trouble in Jacob, neither shall sorrow be seen in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, the glories of rulers are in him. 22 It was God who brought him out of Egypt; he has as it were the glory of a unicorn.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

unto: 1 Kings 20:23, 1 Kings 20:28, Micah 6:5

utmost: Numbers 22:41

and curse me: Joshua 24:9, Psalms 109:17, James 3:9, James 3:10

Reciprocal: Numbers 22:12 - thou shalt not curse Numbers 23:26 - General Numbers 23:27 - Come

Cross-References

Genesis 23:5
And the sons of Chet answered to Abraam, saying, Not so, Sir,
Genesis 23:8
And Abraam spoke to them, saying, If ye have it in your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hearken to me, and speak for me to Ephron the son Saar.
2 Samuel 24:24
And the king said to Orna, Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a fair price, and I will not offer to the Lord my God a whole-burnt-offering for nothing. So David purchased the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Balak said unto him,.... Seemingly satisfied with his answer, however, he could not help himself, and was willing to make the best of him he could, and try what he could do with him another time and elsewhere:

come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them; for he had a mighty notion that both the sight of the people, and the place from whence they were seen, would greatly contribute to answer the end he had in view, cursing the people:

thou shall see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all; for he thought, either that he was so charmed with so glorious a sight as the regular encampment of such a body of people was, that he could not find in his heart to curse them; or that he was so terrified at the sight of such a vast number of people, that he dared not attempt it; and therefore Balak proposed to have him to a place where he could only see a part of them and not the whole:

and curse me them from thence: that part, hoping that when he had cursed them he would gradually go on till he had cursed them all: but there is this objection to our version, and the sense it directs to, that Balaam had been brought to a place already, where he had seen the utmost part of the people, Numbers 22:41 wherefore some read h the middle clause in a parenthesis, and in the past tense "(for thou hast seen but the utmost part of them, and hast not seen them all)"; and therefore would have him come to a place where he might see them all, and curse them from thence.

h So Vatablus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Balak seems to hope that the prophet’s words in Numbers 23:10 reflected the impression conveyed by the scene before him at the moment of the augury; and so that the sight of a mere few straggling Israelites in the utmost part of the camp might induce a different estimate of their resources and prospects.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 23:13. Thou shalt see but the utmost part of them — Balak thought that the sight of such an immense camp had intimidated Balaam, and this he might gather from what he said in the tenth verse: Who can count the dust of Jacob, c. he thought therefore that he might get Balaam to curse them in detached parties, till the whole camp should be devoted to destruction by successive execrations.


 
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