Numbers 22:2

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.

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.

Easy-to-Read Version
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.

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.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Contextual Overview

¹ The People of Israel marched on and camped on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho. ²Balak 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. ⁴Moab spoke to the leaders of Midian: "Look, this mob is going to clean us out—a bunch of crows picking a carcass clean." Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent emissaries to get Balaam son of Beor, who lived at Pethor on the banks of the Euphrates River, his homeland. Balak's emissaries said, "Look. A people has come up out of Egypt, and they're all over the place! And they're pressing hard on me. Come and curse them for me—they're too much for me. Maybe then I can beat them; we'll attack and drive them out of the country. You have a reputation: Those you bless stay blessed; those you curse stay cursed." The leaders of Moab and Midian were soon on their way, with the fee for the cursing tucked safely in their wallets. When they got to Balaam, they gave him Balak's message. "Stay here for the night," Balaam said. "In the morning I'll deliver the answer that God gives me." The Moabite nobles stayed with him. Then God came to Balaam. He asked, "So who are these men here with you?" Balaam answered, "Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent them with a message: ‘Look, the people that came up out of Egypt are all over the place! Come and curse them for me. Maybe then I'll be able to attack and drive them out of the country.'" God said to Balaam, "Don't go with them. And don't curse the others—they are a blessed people." The next morning Balaam got up and told Balak's nobles, "Go back home; God refuses to give me permission to go with you." So the Moabite nobles left, came back to Balak, and said, "Balaam wouldn't come with us." Balak sent another group of nobles, higher ranking and more distinguished. They came to Balaam and said, "Balak son of Zippor says, ‘Please, don't refuse to come to me. I will honor and reward you lavishly—anything you tell me to do, I'll do; I'll pay anything—only come and curse this people.'" Balaam answered Balak's servants: "Even if Balak gave me his house stuffed with silver and gold, I wouldn't be able to defy the orders of my God to do anything, whether big or little. But come along and stay with me tonight as the others did; I'll see what God will say to me this time." God came to Balaam that night and said, "Since these men have come all this way to see you, go ahead and go with them. But make sure you do absolutely nothing other than what I tell you." Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went off with the noblemen from Moab. As he was going, though, God's anger flared. The angel of God stood in the road to block his way. Balaam was riding his donkey, accompanied by his two servants. When the donkey saw the angel blocking the road and brandishing a sword, she veered off the road into the ditch. Balaam beat the donkey and got her back on the road. But as they were going through a vineyard, with a fence on either side, the donkey again saw God 's angel blocking the way and veered into the fence, crushing Balaam's foot against the fence. Balaam hit her again. God 's angel blocked the way yet again—a very narrow passage this time; there was no getting through on the right or left. Seeing the angel, Balaam's donkey sat down under him. Balaam lost his temper; he beat the donkey with his stick. Then God gave speech to the donkey. She said to Balaam: "What have I ever done to you that you have beat me these three times?" Balaam said, "Because you've been playing games with me! If I had a sword I would have killed you by now." The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your trusty donkey on whom you've ridden for years right up until now? Have I ever done anything like this to you before? Have I?" He said, "No." Then God helped Balaam see what was going on: He saw God 's angel blocking the way, brandishing a sword. Balaam fell to the ground, his face in the dirt. God 's angel said to him: "Why have you beaten your poor donkey these three times? I have come here to block your way because you're getting way ahead of yourself. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she hadn't, I would have killed you by this time, but not the donkey. I would have let her off." Balaam said to God 's angel, "I have sinned. I had no idea you were standing in the road blocking my way. If you don't like what I'm doing, I'll head back." But God 's angel said to Balaam, "Go ahead and go with them. But only say what I tell you to say—absolutely no other word." And so Balaam continued to go with Balak's nobles. When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him in the Moabite town that was on the banks of the Arnon, right on the boundary of his land. Balak said to Balaam, "Didn't I send an urgent message for help? Why didn't you come when I called? Do you think I can't pay you enough?" Balaam said to Balak, "Well, I'm here now. But I can't tell you just anything. I can speak only words that God gives me—no others." Balaam then accompanied Balak to Kiriath Huzoth (Street-Town). Balak slaughtered cattle and sheep for sacrifices and presented them to Balaam and the nobles who were with him. At daybreak Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal (The Heights of Baal) so that he could get a good view of some of the people. ⁶Balaam The People of Israel marched on and camped on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho. 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. Moab spoke to the leaders of Midian: "Look, this mob is going to clean us out—a bunch of crows picking a carcass clean." Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent emissaries to get Balaam son of Beor, who lived at Pethor on the banks of the Euphrates River, his homeland. Balak's emissaries said, "Look. A people has come up out of Egypt, and they're all over the place! And they're pressing hard on me. Come and curse them for me—they're too much for me. Maybe then I can beat them; we'll attack and drive them out of the country. You have a reputation: Those you bless stay blessed; those you curse stay cursed." ⁷The leaders of Moab and Midian were soon on their way, with the fee for the cursing tucked safely in their wallets. When they got to Balaam, they gave him Balak's message. "Stay here for the night," Balaam said. "In the morning I'll deliver the answer that God gives me." The Moabite nobles stayed with him. ⁹ Then God came to Balaam. He asked, "So who are these men here with you?" ¹⁰Balaam answered, "Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent them with a message: ‘Look, the people that came up out of Egypt are all over the place! Come and curse them for me. Maybe then I'll be able to attack and drive them out of the country.'" ¹² God said to Balaam, "Don't go with them. And don't curse the others—they are a blessed people." ¹³ The next morning Balaam got up and told Balak's nobles, "Go back home; God refuses to give me permission to go with you." ¹⁴ So the Moabite nobles left, came back to Balak, and said, "Balaam wouldn't come with us."

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
But God said, "That's not what I mean. Your wife, Sarah, will have a baby, a son. Name him Isaac (Laughter). I'll establish my covenant with him and his descendants, a covenant that lasts forever.

Genesis 22:9
They arrived at the place to which God had directed him. Abraham built an altar. He laid out the wood. Then he tied up Isaac and laid him on the wood. Abraham reached out and took the knife to kill his son.

Genesis 22:12
"Don't lay a hand on that boy! Don't touch him! Now I know how fearlessly you fear God; you didn't hesitate to place your son, your dear son, on the altar for me."

2 Chronicles 3:1
So Solomon broke ground, launched construction of the house of God in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, the place where God had appeared to his father David. The precise site, the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, had been designated by David. He broke ground on the second day in the second month of the fourth year of his rule. These are the dimensions that Solomon set for the construction of the house of God: ninety feet long and thirty feet wide. The porch in front stretched the width of the building, that is, thirty feet; and it was thirty feet high. The interior was gold-plated. He paneled the main hall with cypress and veneered it with fine gold engraved with palm tree and chain designs. He decorated the building with precious stones and gold from Parvaim. Everything was coated with gold veneer: rafters, doorframes, walls, and doors. Cherubim were engraved on the walls. He made the Holy of Holies a cube, thirty feet wide, long, and high. It was veneered with six hundred talents (something over twenty-two tons) of gold. The gold nails weighed fifty shekels (a little over a pound). The upper rooms were also veneered in gold. He made two sculptures of cherubim, gigantic angel-like figures, for the Holy of Holies, both veneered with gold. The combined wingspread of the side-by-side cherubim (each wing measuring seven and a half feet) stretched from wall to wall, thirty feet. They stood erect facing the main hall. He fashioned the curtain of violet, purple, and crimson fabric and worked a cherub design into it. He made two huge free-standing pillars, each fifty-two feet tall, their capitals extending another seven and a half feet. The top of each pillar was set off with an elaborate filigree of chains, like necklaces, from which hung a hundred pomegranates. He placed the pillars in front of The Temple, one on the right, and the other on the left. The right pillar he named Jakin (Security) and the left pillar he named Boaz (Stability).

John 3:16
"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

Hebrews 11:17
By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God. Acting in faith, he was as ready to return the promised son, his only son, as he had been to receive him—and this after he had already been told, "Your descendants shall come from Isaac." Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead. In a sense, that's what happened when he received Isaac back, alive from off the altar.

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.