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Geneva Bible
Numbers 24:3
Bible Study Resources
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He took up his parable, and said, Bil`am the son of Be'or says, The man whose eye was closed says;
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
He uttered his oracle and said, "The declaration of Balaam son Beor, the declaration of the man whose eyes are closed,
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,
and he gave this message: "This is the message of Balaam son of Beor, the message of a man who sees clearly;
Then he uttered this oracle: "The oracle of Balaam son of Beor; the oracle of the man whose eyes are open;
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],
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;
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;
and Balaam said: "I am the son of Beor, and my words are true, so listen to my message!
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;
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, and the man of opened eye saith,
and he gave this message: "This message is from Balaam son of Beor. I am speaking about things I see clearly.
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor has said, and the man whose eyes are open has said;
and he uttered this prophecy: "The message of Balaam son of Beor, The words of the man who can see clearly,
and he proclaimed his poem:
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;
and he toke vp his parable, and sayde: Thus sayeth Balaam the sonne of Beor:
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, And the man whose eye was closed saith;
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:
And he toke vp his parable and sayd: Balaam the sonne of Beor hath sayde, and the man whose eyes is open hath sayde:
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;
And he tooke vp his parable, and said, Balaam the sonne of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
And he took up his parable and said, Balaam son of Beor says, the man who sees truly says,
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, And the man whose eye was closed saith:
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,
he seide, Balaam, the sone of Beor, seide, a man whois iye is stoppid seide,
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 --
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor says, And the [special] man whose eye was closed says;
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
He took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor says, The man whose eye was closed says;
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,
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,
He began speaking and said, "Balaam the son of Beor is the man whose eye is opened.
and he uttered his oracle, saying: "The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is clear,
and he took up his parable, and said, - The oracle of Balaam, son of Beor, Yea the oracle of the man, of opened eye;
He took up his parable and said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man hath said, whose eye is stopped up:
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,
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
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
Then the sonnes of God sawe the daughters of men that they were faire, & they tooke them wiues of all that they liked.
There were gyants in the earth in those dayes: yea, and after that the sonnes of God came vnto the daughters of men, and they had borne them children, these were mightie men, which in olde time were men of renoume.
Therefore he blessed him, saying, Blessed art thou, Abram, of God most high possessour of heauen and earth,
And Abram said to the King of Sodom, I haue lift vp mine hand vnto the Lorde the most hie God possessor of heauen and earth,
Nowe therefore sweare vnto me here by God, that thou wilt not hurt me, nor my children, nor my childrens children: thou shalt deale with me, and with the countrey, where thou hast bene a stranger, according vnto the kindnesse that I haue shewed thee.
And I will make thee sweare by ye Lorde God of the heauen, and God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife vnto my sonne of the daughters of the Canaanites among who I dwel.
But thou shalt go vnto my countrey, and to my kinred, & take a wife vnto my sone Izhak.
Graunt therefore that ye maide, to whom I say, Bowe downe thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drinke: if she say, Drinke, and I will giue thy camels drinke also: may be she that thou hast ordeined for thy seruant Izhak: and thereby shall I know yt thou hast shewed mercy on my master.
And nowe yer he had left speaking, beholde, Rebekah came out, the daughter of Bethuel, sonne of Milcah the wife of Nahor Abrahams brother, and her pitcher vpon her shoulder.
Then the seruant ranne to meete her, and said, Let me drinke, I pray thee, a litle water of thy pitcher.
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."
