Numbers 22:2

Complete Jewish Bible

Then the people of Isra'el traveled on and camped in the plains of Mo'av beyond the Yarden River, opposite Yericho. Haftarah Hukkat: Shof'tim (Judges) 11:1–33 B'rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Hukkat: Yochanan (John) 3:9–21; 4:3–30; 12:27–50 [In regular years read with Parashah 39, in leap years read separately] Now Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that Isra'el had done to the Emori.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that Yisra'el had done to the Amori.

King James Version
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Lexham English Bible
Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel did to the Amorites,

English Standard Version
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

New Century Version
Balak son of Zippor saw everything the Israelites had done to the Amorites.

New English Translation
Balak son of Zippor saw all that the Israelites had done to the Amorites.

Amplified Bible
And Balak [the king of Moab] the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

New American Standard Bible
Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Now Balak the sonne of Zippor sawe all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Legacy Standard Bible
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Contemporary English Version
When King Balak of Moab and his people heard how many Israelites there were and what they had done to the Amorites, he and the Moabites were terrified and panicked.

Darby Translation
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Easy-to-Read Version
Balak son of Zippor saw everything the Israelites had done to the Amorites. The king of Moab was very frightened of the Israelites because there were so many of them. He was very afraid.

George Lamsa Translation
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Good News Translation
When the king of Moab, Balak son of Zippor, heard what the Israelites had done to the Amorites and how many Israelites there were,

Christian Standard Bible®
Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Literal Translation
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And whan Balac ye sonne of Ziphor sawe all that Israel had done vnto the Amorites,

American Standard Version
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Bible in Basic English
Now Balak, the son of Zippor, saw what Israel had done to the Amorites.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Balac the sonne of Ziphor, sawe all that Israel had done to ye Amorites.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

King James Version (1611)
And Balak the sonne of Zippor, saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And when Balac son of Sepphor saw all that Israel did to the Amorite,

English Revised Version
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Berean Standard Bible
Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe Balach, the sone of Sephor, siy alle thingis whiche Israel hadde do to Ammorrei,

Young's Literal Translation
And Balak son of Zippor seeth all that Israel hath done to the Amorite,

Update Bible Version
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Webster's Bible Translation
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

World English Bible
Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

New King James Version
Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

New Living Translation
Balak son of Zippor, the Moabite king, had seen everything the Israelites did to the Amorites.

New Life Bible
Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

New Revised Standard
Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And Balak son of Zipper saw all that Israel had done unto the Amorites;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Balac the son of Sephor, seeing all that Israel had done to the Amorrhite,

Revised Standard Version
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

THE MESSAGE
Balak son of Zippor learned of all that Israel had done to the Amorites. The people of Moab were in a total panic because of Israel. There were so many of them! They were terrorized.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Contextual Overview

¹ Then the people of Isra'el traveled on and camped in the plains of Mo'av beyond the Yarden River, opposite Yericho. Haftarah Hukkat: Shof'tim (Judges) 11:1–33 B'rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Hukkat: Yochanan (John) 3:9–21; 4:3–30; 12:27–50 [In regular years read with Parashah 39, in leap years read separately] Now Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that Isra'el had done to the Emori. Mo'av was very afraid of the people, because there were so many of them; Mo'av was overcome with dread because of the people of Isra'el. So Mo'av said to the leaders of Midyan, "This horde will lick up everything around us, the way an ox licks up grass in the field." Balak the son of Tzippor was king of Mo'av at that time. He sent messengers to Bil‘am the son of B‘or, at P'tor by the [Euphrates] River in his native land, to tell him, "Listen, a people has come out of Egypt, spread over all the land and settled down next to me. Therefore, please come, and curse this people for me, because they are stronger than I am. Maybe I will be able to strike them down and drive them out of the land, for I know that whomever you bless is in fact blessed, and whomever you curse is in fact cursed." The leaders of Mo'av and Midyan left, taking with them the payment for divining, came to Bil‘am and spoke to him the words of Balak. He said to them, "Stay here tonight, and I will bring you back whatever answer Adonai tells me." So the princes of Mo'av stayed with Bil‘am. God came to Bil‘am and said, "Who are these men with you?" Bil‘am said to God, "Balak the son of Tzippor, king of Mo'av, has sent me this message: ‘The people who came out of Egypt have spread over the land; now, come and curse them for me; maybe I will be able to fight against them and drive them out.'" God answered Bil‘am, "You are not to go with them; you are not to curse the people, because they are blessed." (RY: v; LY: ii) Bil‘am got up in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, "Return to your own land, because Adonai refuses to give me permission to go with you." The princes of Mo'av got up, returned to Balak and said, "Bil‘am refuses to come with us." Balak again sent princes, more of them and of higher status than the first group. They went to Bil‘am and said to him, "Here is what Balak the son of Tzippor says: ‘Please don't let anything keep you from coming to me. I will reward you very well, and whatever you say to me I will do. So please come, and curse this people for me.'" Bil‘am answered the servants of Balak, "Even if Balak were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of Adonai my God to do anything, great or small. Now, please, you too, stay here tonight; so that I may find out what else Adonai will say to me." God came to Bil‘am during the night and said to him, "If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them; but do only what I tell you." (LY: iii) So Bil‘am got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Mo'av. But God's anger flared up because he went, and the angel of Adonai stationed himself on the path to bar his way. He was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. The donkey saw the angel of Adonai standing on the road, drawn sword in hand; so the donkey turned off the road into the field; and Bil‘am had to beat the donkey to get it back on the road. Then the angel of Adonai stood on the road where it became narrow as it passed among the vineyards and had stone walls on both sides. The donkey saw the angel of Adonai and pushed up against the wall, crushing Bil‘am's foot against the wall. So he beat it again. The angel of Adonai moved ahead and stood in a place so tight that there was no room to turn either right or left. Again the donkey saw the angel of Adonai and lay down under Bil‘am, which made him so angry that he hit the donkey with his stick. But Adonai enabled the donkey to speak, and it said to Bil‘am, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?" Bil‘am said to the donkey, "It's because you've been making a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand; I would kill you on the spot!" The donkey said to Bil‘am, "I'm your donkey, right? You've ridden me all your life, right? Have I ever treated you like this before?" "No," he admitted. Then Adonai opened Bil‘am's eyes, so that he could see the angel of Adonai standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, and he bowed his head and fell on his face. The angel of Adonai said to him, "Why did you hit your donkey three times like that? I have come out here to bar your way, because you are rushing to oppose me. The donkey saw me and turned aside these three times; and indeed, if she hadn't turned away from me, I would have killed you by now and saved it alive!" Bil‘am said to the angel of Adonai , "I have sinned. I didn't know that you were standing on the road to block me. Now, therefore, if what I am doing displeases you, I will go back." But the angel of Adonai said to Bil‘am, "No, go on with the men; but you are to say only what I tell you to say." So Bil‘am went along with the princes of Balak. When Balak heard that Bil‘am had come, he went out to meet him in the city of Mo'av at the Arnon border, in the farthest reaches of the territory. Balak said to Bil‘am, "I sent more than once to summon you! Why didn't you come to me? Did you think I couldn't pay you enough?" Bil‘am replied to Balak, "Here, I've come to you! But I have no power of my own to say anything. The word that God puts in my mouth is what I will say." (RY: vi, LY: iv) Bil‘am went with Balak. When they arrived at Kiryat-Hutzot, Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, then sent to Bil‘am and the princes with him. In the morning Balak took Bil‘am and brought him up to the high places of Ba‘al; from there he could see a portion of the people. ² Then the people of Isra'el traveled on and camped in the plains of Mo'av beyond the Yarden River, opposite Yericho. Haftarah Hukkat: Shof'tim (Judges) 11:1–33 B'rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Hukkat: Yochanan (John) 3:9–21; 4:3–30; 12:27–50 [In regular years read with Parashah 39, in leap years read separately] Now Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that Isra'el had done to the Emori. ³ Mo'av was very afraid of the people, because there were so many of them; Mo'av was overcome with dread because of the people of Isra'el. ⁴ So Mo'av said to the leaders of Midyan, "This horde will lick up everything around us, the way an ox licks up grass in the field." Balak the son of Tzippor was king of Mo'av at that time. ⁵ He sent messengers to Bil‘am the son of B‘or, at P'tor by the [Euphrates] River in his native land, to tell him, "Listen, a people has come out of Egypt, spread over all the land and settled down next to me. ⁶ Therefore, please come, and curse this people for me, because they are stronger than I am. Maybe I will be able to strike them down and drive them out of the land, for I know that whomever you bless is in fact blessed, and whomever you curse is in fact cursed." ⁷ The leaders of Mo'av and Midyan left, taking with them the payment for divining, came to Bil‘am and spoke to him the words of Balak. ⁸ He said to them, "Stay here tonight, and I will bring you back whatever answer Adonai tells me." So the princes of Mo'av stayed with Bil‘am. ⁹ God came to Bil‘am and said, "Who are these men with you?" ¹⁰ Bil‘am said to God, "Balak the son of Tzippor, king of Mo'av, has sent me this message:

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Numbers 21:3, Numbers 21:20-35, Judges 11:25

Reciprocal: Numbers 22:4 - And Balak

Cross-References

Genesis 17:19
God answered, "No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you are to call him Yitz'chak [laughter]. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

Genesis 21:12
But God said to Avraham, "Don't be distressed because of the boy and your slave-girl. Listen to everything Sarah says to you, because it is your descendants through Yitz'chak who will be counted.

Genesis 22:9
They came to the place God had told him about; and Avraham built the altar there, set the wood in order, bound Yitz'chak his son and laid him on the altar, on the wood.

Genesis 22:10
Then Avraham put out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.

Genesis 22:12
He said, "Don't lay your hand on the boy! Don't do anything to him! For now I know that you are a man who fears God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."

Genesis 22:16
He said, "I have sworn by myself — says Adonai — that because you have done this, because you haven't withheld your son, your only son,

Judges 11:31
then whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the people of ‘Amon will belong to Adonai ; I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."

Judges 11:39
After two months she returned to her father, and he did with her what he had vowed; she had remained a virgin. So it became a law in Isra'el

2 Kings 3:27
Then he took his firstborn son, who was to have succeeded him as king, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. Following this, such great anger came upon Isra'el that they left him and went back to their own land.

2 Chronicles 3:1
Then Shlomo began to build the house of Adonai in Yerushalayim on Mount Moriyah, where Adonai had appeared to David his father. Provision had been made for this at the place David had chosen, the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y'vusi.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. The word "Amorites" being particularly pointed, shows, as Aben Ezra observes, that Sihon and Og are both meant, and that there were not among the kings of the land of Canaan any so great as they; wherefore when Balak, who was the present king of Moab, saw what Israel had done to them, that they had conquered them, and seized upon their kingdoms: he reasoned within himself, and said, as Jarchi represents him, that if they could not stand before Israel, much less could he and his people; and the rather, since those kings Israel had subdued were too powerful for the king of Moab, and had taken part of his country from him, and yet Israel was too strong for them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Balak the son of Zippor - The comparison of Numbers 22:4 with Numbers 21:26 suggests that Balak was not the hereditary king but a Midianite, and that a change of dynasty had taken place. His father’s name, Zippor, “Bird,” reminds us of those of other Midianites, e. g., Oreb, “Crow,” Zeeb, “Wolf.” Possibly the Midianite chieftains had taken advantage of the weakness of the Moabites after the Amorite victories to establish themselves as princes in the land.