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Sunday, August 17th, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Easy-to-Read Version

Numbers 24:3

and he gave this message: "This message is from Balaam son of Beor. I am speaking about things I see clearly.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Balaam;   Prophets;   Thompson Chain Reference - Balaam;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Prophecy;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Poetry of the Hebrews;   Prophets;   Seer;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Balaam;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Land (of Israel);   Easton Bible Dictionary - Beor;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Balaam;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Oracles;   Poetry;   Theophany;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Balaam;   Balak;   Beor;   Magic, Divination, and Sorcery;   Moab, Moabites;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Targums;   Vision;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Parable;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Be'or;   Parable;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Open;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - On to Canaan;   Moses, the Man of God;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Balaam;   Beor;   Close;   Mad;   Proverb;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Balaam;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Allegory in the Old Testament;   Bemidbar Rabbah;   Beor;   Parallelism in Hebrew Poetry;   Poetry;  

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,
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;
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:
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 Balaam saw that the Lord wanted to bless Israel, so he did not try to change that by using any kind of magic. But Balaam turned and looked toward the desert. 2 He looked out across the desert and saw all the Israelites. They were camped with the tribes in their different areas. Then the Spirit of God came on him, 3 and he gave this message: "This message is from Balaam son of Beor. I am speaking about things I see clearly. 4 These are the words I heard from God. I saw what God All-Powerful showed me. I humbly tell what I clearly see. 5 "People of Jacob, your tents are beautiful! Israelites, your homes are beautiful! 6 You are like rows of palm trees planted by the streams. You are like gardens growing by the rivers. You are like sweet-smelling bushes planted by the Lord . You are like cedar trees growing by the water. 7 You will always have enough water, enough water for your seeds to grow. Your king will be greater than King Agag. Your kingdom will be very great. 8 "God brought them out of Egypt. They are as strong as a wild ox. They will defeat all their enemies. They will break their bones and shatter their arrows. 9 Israel is like a lion, curled up and lying down. Yes, they are like a young lion, and no one wants to wake him! Anyone who blesses you will be blessed. And anyone who curses you will have great troubles."

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 14:19
He blessed Abram and said, "Abram, may you be blessed by God Most High, the one who made heaven and earth.
Genesis 14:22
But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I promise to the Lord , the God Most High, the one who made heaven and earth.
Genesis 21:23
So make a promise to me here before God. Promise that you will be fair with me and with my children. Promise that you will be kind to me and this country where you have lived. Promise that you will be as kind to me as I have been to you."
Genesis 24:3
Now I want you to make a promise to me. Promise to me before the Lord , the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry a girl from Canaan. We live among these people, but don't let him marry a Canaanite girl.
Genesis 24:4
Go back to my country, to my own people, to find a wife for my son Isaac. Bring her here to him."
Genesis 24:14
I will say to one of them, ‘Please put your jar down so that I can drink.' Let her answer show whether she is the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. If she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give water to your camels,' I will know that she is the right one. It will be proof that you have shown kindness to my master."
Genesis 24:15
Before the servant finished praying, a young woman named Rebekah came to the well. She was the daughter of Bethuel. (Bethuel was the son of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham's brother.) Rebekah came to the well with her water jar on her shoulder.
Genesis 24:17
Then the servant ran to her and said, "Please give me a little water to drink from your jar."
Genesis 24:19
As soon as she finished giving him something to drink, Rebekah said, "I will also pour some water for your camels."
Genesis 24:28
Then Rebekah ran and told her family about all these things.

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."


 
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