Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, April 18th, 2026
the Second Week after Easter
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Numbers 24:3

and he uttered this prophecy: "The message of Balaam son of Beor, The words of the man who can 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,
Easy-to-Read Version
and he gave this message: "This message is from Balaam son of Beor. I am speaking about things I see clearly.
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;
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 By now Balaam knew that the Lord wanted him to bless the people of Israel, so he did not go to look for omens, as he had done before. He turned toward the desert 2 and saw the people of Israel camped tribe by tribe. The spirit of God took control of him, 3 and he uttered this prophecy: "The message of Balaam son of Beor, The words of the man who can see clearly, 4 Who can hear what God is saying. With staring eyes I see in a trance A vision from Almighty God. 5 The tents of Israel are beautiful, 6 Like long rows of palms Or gardens beside a river, Like aloes planted by the Lord Or cedars beside the water. 7 They will have abundant rainfall And plant their seed in well-watered fields. Their king shall be greater than Agag, And his rule shall be extended far and wide. 8 God brought them out of Egypt; He fights for them like a wild ox. They devour their enemies, Crush their bones, smash their arrows. 9 The nation is like a mighty lion; When it is sleeping, no one dares wake it. Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, And whoever curses Israel will be cursed."

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 6:2
some of the heavenly beings saw that these young women were beautiful, so they took the ones they liked.
Genesis 6:4
In those days, and even later, there were giants on the earth who were descendants of human women and the heavenly beings. They were the great heroes and famous men of long ago.
Genesis 14:19
blessed him, and said, "May the Most High God, who made heaven and earth, bless Abram!
Genesis 14:22
Abram answered, "I solemnly swear before the Lord , the Most High God, Maker of heaven and earth,
Genesis 21:23
So make a vow here in the presence of God that you will not deceive me, my children, or my descendants. I have been loyal to you, so promise that you will also be loyal to me and to this country in which you are living."
Genesis 24:3
I want you to make a vow in the name of the Lord , the God of heaven and earth, that you will not choose a wife for my son from the people here in Canaan.
Genesis 24:4
You must go back to the country where I was born and get a wife for my son Isaac from among my relatives."
Genesis 24:14
I will say to one of them, ‘Please, lower your jar and let me have a drink.' If she says, ‘Drink, and I will also bring water for your camels,' may she be the one that you have chosen for your servant Isaac. If this happens, I will know that you have kept your promise to my master."
Genesis 24:15
Before he had finished praying, Rebecca arrived with a water jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham's brother Nahor and his wife Milcah.
Genesis 24:17
The servant ran to meet her and said, "Please give me a drink of water from your jar."

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."


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile