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Sunday, September 7th, 2025
the Week of Proper 18 / Ordinary 23
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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Numbers 22:2

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.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Zippor;   Thompson Chain Reference - Balak;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Moabites;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Midianites;   Moabites;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Balaam;   Moab;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Balak;   Moabite;   Zippor;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Balak;   Transjordan;   Zippor;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Balaam;   Balak;   Moab, Moabites;   Numbers, Book of;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Zippor ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Balak;   Midian;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Zip'por;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - On to Canaan;   Moses, the Man of God;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Numbers, Book of;   Zippor;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Balak;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Bemidbar Rabbah;   Hafṭarah;   Joshua, the Samaritan Book of;   Sidra;   Zippor;  

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.
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.
Darby Translation
And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
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 Israelites traveled to the Jordan Valley in Moab. They camped near the Jordan River across from Jericho. 2Balak 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. 4 The king of Moab said to the leaders of Midian, "This large group of people will destroy everything around us, the way an ox eats all the grass in a field." Balak son of Zippor was the king of Moab at this time. 5 He sent some men to Balaam son of Beor. Balaam was at Pethor, near the Euphrates River. This was where Balaam's people lived. This was Balak's message: "A new nation of people has come out of Egypt. There are so many people that they cover all the land. They have camped next to me. 6 Come and help me. These people are too powerful for me. I know that you have great power. If you bless people, good things happen to them. And if you curse people, bad things happen to them. So come and curse these people. Maybe then I will be able to defeat them and force them to leave my country." 7 The leaders of Moab and Midian left. They went to talk to Balaam. They carried with them money to pay him for his service. Then they told him what Balak had said. 8 Balaam said to them, "Stay here for the night. I will talk to the Lord and tell you the answer he gives me." So the leaders of Moab stayed there with Balaam that night. 9 God came to Balaam and asked, "Who are these men with you?" 10 Balaam said to God, "The king of Moab, Balak son of Zippor, sent them to give me a message. 11 This is the message: A new nation of people has come out of Egypt. There are so many people that they cover the land. So come and curse these people. Then maybe I will be able to fight them and force them to leave my land."

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 said, "No, I said that your wife Sarah will have a son. You will name him Isaac. I will make my agreement with him that will continue forever with all his descendants.
Genesis 21:12
But God said to Abraham, "Don't worry about the boy and the slave woman. Do what Sarah wants. Your descendants will be those who come through Isaac.
Genesis 22:9
When they came to the place where God told them to go, Abraham built an altar. He carefully laid the wood on the altar. Then he tied up his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
Genesis 22:10
Then Abraham reached for his knife to kill his son.
Genesis 22:12
The angel said, "Don't kill your son or hurt him in any way. Now I can see that you do respect and obey God. I see that you are ready to kill your son, your only son, for me."
Genesis 22:16
The angel said, "You were ready to kill your only son for me. Since you did this for me, I make you this promise: I, the Lord , promise that
Judges 11:31
I will give you the first thing that comes out of my house when I come back from the victory. I will give it to the Lord as a burnt offering."
Judges 11:39
At the end of two months, Jephthah's daughter returned to her father, and Jephthah did what he had promised. His daughter never had sexual relations with anyone. So this became a custom in Israel.
2 Kings 3:27
Then the king of Moab took his oldest son, who would become the next king after him. On the wall around the city, the king of Moab offered his son as a burnt offering. This upset the Israelites very much. So the Israelites left the king of Moab and went back to their own land.
2 Chronicles 3:1
Solomon began building the Lord 's Temple at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David, Solomon's father. This was the place David had prepared for the Temple. It had been the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

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.


 
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