Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, July 10th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Literal Standard Version

Numbers 24:15

And he takes up his allegory and says: "An affirmation of Balaam son of Beor, || And an affirmation of the man whose eyes [are] shut;

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

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

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Poetry of the Hebrews;   Prophets;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Balaam;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Word;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Beor;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Poetry;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Balaam;   Balak;   Beor;   God;   Moab, Moabites;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Targums;   Trance;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Balaam;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Be'or;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - On to Canaan;   Moses, the Man of God;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Balaam;   Beor;   Close;   King, Christ as;   Proverb;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Balaam;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Beor;   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
And he uttered his oracle and said, "The declaration of Balaam son of Beor, and the declaration of the man whose eye is 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
Then Balaam 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 [fourth] discourse (oracle) and said: "The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, The oracle of the man whose eye is opened,
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
Balaam said: "I am the son of Beor, and my words are true, so listen to my message!
Complete Jewish Bible
So 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
Then Balaam 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;
Good News Translation
Then he uttered this prophecy: "The message of Balaam son of Beor, The words of the man who can see clearly,
Christian Standard Bible®
Then 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 are opened;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And he toke vp his parable, and sayde: Thus sayeth Balaam the sonne of Beor: Thus sayeth ye man, whose eyes are opened:
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
Then he went on with his story and said, These are the words of Balaam, the son of Beor, the words of him whose eyes are open:
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he toke vp his parable and sayd: Balaam the sonne of Beor hath sayde, the man whose eye 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 hee 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,
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
Then Balaam 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)
Therfor whanne a parable was takun, he seide eft, Balaam, the sone of Beor seide, a man whos iye is stoppid,
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
So he took up his oracle and said: "The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, And the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened;
New Living Translation
This is the message Balaam delivered: "This is the message of Balaam son of Beor, the message of the man whose eyes see clearly,
New Life Bible
Then he began speaking and said, "Balaam the son of Beor is the man whose eye is opened.
New Revised Standard
So 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
So he took up his parable and said, - The oracle of Balaam, son of Beer, Yea the oracle of the man, of opened eye;
Douay-Rheims Bible
Therefore taking up his parable, again he said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man whose eye is stopped up, hath said:
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

15And he takes up his allegory and says: "An affirmation of Balaam son of Beor, || And an affirmation of the man whose eyes [are] shut;16An affirmation of him who is hearing sayings of God, || And knowing knowledge of the Most High; He sees a vision of the Almighty, || Falling—and eyes uncovered: 17I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A star has proceeded from Jacob, || And a scepter has risen from Israel, || And has struck corners of Moab, || And has destroyed all sons of Seth. 18And Edom has been a possession, || And Seir has been a possession [for] his enemies, || And Israel is doing valiantly; 19And [One] rules out of Jacob, || And has destroyed a remnant from the city." 20And he sees Amalek, and takes up his allegory, and says: "Amalek [is] first [among] nations, || But his latter end—destruction forever." 21And he sees the Kenite, and takes up his allegory, and says: "Your dwelling [is] enduring, || And your nest is being set in a rock, 22But the Kenite is for a burning; Until when does Asshur keep you captive?" 23And he takes up his allegory and says: "Woe! Who lives when God does this? 24But ships [come] from the side of Chittim, || And they have humbled Asshur, || And they have humbled Eber, || But it is also perishing forever."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Numbers 24:3, Numbers 24:4, Numbers 23:7, Numbers 23:18, Job 27:1, Matthew 13:35

Reciprocal: Proverbs 18:2 - but Micah 2:4 - shall 1 Corinthians 13:2 - I have the Hebrews 6:4 - were once

Cross-References

Genesis 11:27
And these [are] the generations of Terah: Terah has begotten Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran has begotten Lot;
Genesis 21:14
And Abraham rises early in the morning, and takes bread, and a bottle of water, and gives to Hagar (placing [it] on her shoulder), also the boy, and sends her out; and she goes on, and goes astray in the wilderness of Beer-Sheba;
Genesis 24:18
and she says, "Drink, my lord"; and she hurries, and lets down her pitcher on her hand, and gives him drink.
Genesis 24:19
And she finishes giving him drink and says, "Also for your camels I draw until they have finished drinking";
Genesis 24:20
and she hurries, and empties her pitcher into the drinking-trough, and runs again to the well to draw, and draws for all his camels.
Genesis 24:23
and says, "Whose daughter [are] you? Please declare to me, is the house of your father a place for us to lodge in?"
Genesis 24:24
And she says to him, "I [am] daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, whom she has borne to Nahor."
Genesis 24:36
and Sarah, my lord's wife, bears a son to my lord, after she has been aged, and he gives to him all that he has.
Genesis 24:40
and he says to me, YHWH, before whom I have habitually walked, sends His messenger with you, and has prospered your way, and you have taken a wife for my son from my family, and from the house of my father;
Genesis 24:45
Before I finish speaking to my heart, then behold, Rebekah is coming out, and her pitcher [is] on her shoulder, and she goes down to the fountain and draws; and I say to her, Please let me drink,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he took up his parable, and said,.... In this and the following verse; the same preface, in the same words, is made to his prophecy as before, :- :-; only one clause is added, "and knew the knowledge of the Most High"; that Balaam had some knowledge of God is certain from the names by which he calls him, being such that he made himself known by to the patriarchs, and by which he is frequently called in the sacred writings; but then this knowledge of his was merely notional and speculative, and not spiritual and supernatural, and was such as men may have who are destitute of the grace of God: he was one that professed to know him in words, but in works denied him, see 1 Corinthians 13:2 and he also was admitted to much nearness to God, and converse with him, of which he boasted; but then this was not for his own sake, or as a mark of friendship to him, but for the sake of the people of Israel, and to prevent his doing them mischief. His prophecy follows.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 24:15. The man whose eyes are openNumbers 24:3. It seems strange that our version should have fallen into such a mistake as to render שתם shethum, open, which it does not signify, when the very sound of the word expresses the sense. The Vulgate has very properly preserved the true meaning, by rendering the clause cujus obturatus est oculus, he whose eyes are shut. The Targum first paraphrased the passage falsely, and most of the versions followed it.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile