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Monday, July 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Bahasa Indonesia Sehari-hari

Bilangan 23:1

Lalu berkatalah Bileam kepada Balak: "Dirikanlah bagiku di sini tujuh mezbah dan siapkanlah bagiku di sini tujuh ekor lembu jantan dan tujuh ekor domba jantan."

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Altar;   Seven;   Thompson Chain Reference - Balaam;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Altars;   Desert, Journey of Israel through the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Camp, Encampments;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Balaam;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Number;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Cattle;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Balaam;   Balak;   Kibroth-Hattaavah;   Magic, Divination, and Sorcery;   Moab, Moabites;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Altar ;   Sacrifices ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Seven;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Year;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - On to Canaan;   Moses, the Man of God;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Altar;   Number;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Dan;   Eleazar ben Perata I.;  

Parallel Translations

Alkitab Terjemahan Baru
Lalu berkatalah Bileam kepada Balak: "Dirikanlah bagiku di sini tujuh mezbah dan siapkanlah bagiku di sini tujuh ekor lembu jantan dan tujuh ekor domba jantan."
Alkitab Terjemahan Lama
Maka sembah Bileam kepada Balak: Perbuatkanlah kiranya akan patik di sini tujuh buah mezbah dan sediakanlah akan patik di sini tujuh ekor lembu muda dan tujuh ekor domba jantan.

Contextual Overview

1 And Balaam said vnto Balac: Buylde me here seuen aulters, & prepare me here seuen oxen & seuen rammes. 2 And Balac dyd as Balaam sayde: And Balac and Balaam offred on euery aulter an oxe and a ramme. 3 And Balaam said vnto Balac: Stand by thy sacrifice, and I will go, if happly the Lorde will meete me: and whatsoeuer he sheweth me, I wyll tell thee. And he went vp hyer. 4 But God met Balaam, & [Balaam] sayd vnto hym: I haue prepared seuen aulters, and haue offred vpon euery aulter an oxe and a ramme. 5 And the Lorde put a saying in Balaams mouth, and sayde: Go agayne to Balac, and say on this wyse. 6 And when he went agayne vnto him, lo, he stoode by his burnt sacrifice, he and all the lordes of Moab. 7 And he toke vp his parable, and sayd: Balac the king of Moab hath brought me fro Mesopotamia, out of the mountaynes of the east, [saying] Come, curse Iacob for my sake, come and defie Israel. 8 Howe shall I curse hym, whom God hath not cursed? or howe shall I defie hym, whom God hath not defied? 9 For from the toppe of the rockes I see hym, and from the hylles I beholde hym: lo, the people shall dwell by them selues, and shal not be reckened among the nations. 10 Who can tell the dust of Iacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? I pray God that my soule may dye the death of the righteous, and that my last ende may be like his.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Build me: Numbers 23:29, Ezekiel 33:31, Jude 1:11

seven altars: Exodus 20:24, Exodus 27:1-8, 1 Samuel 15:22, 2 Kings 18:22, Psalms 50:8, Psalms 50:9, Proverbs 15:8, Isaiah 1:11-15, Matthew 23:14

seven oxen: Numbers 29:32, 1 Chronicles 15:26, 2 Chronicles 29:21, Job 42:8, Ezekiel 45:23

Reciprocal: Numbers 23:4 - I have prepared Numbers 23:14 - built seven Joshua 6:4 - seven times 2 Samuel 15:12 - while he offered Isaiah 16:12 - when Micah 6:6 - with

Cross-References

Genesis 17:17
But Abraham fell vppon his face, and laughed, and sayde in his heart: shall a chylde be borne vnto hym that is an hundreth yere olde? And shall Sara that is ninetie yere olde beare?

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Balaam said unto Balak,.... When upon one of the high places of Baal, and after having taken a view of the people of Israel as they lay encamped:

build me here seven altars; this was purely Heathenish; for not only the Israelites after the law of Moses had but one altar, but the patriarchs before that never built but one altar at a time. Some have thought regard is had to the seven planets worshipped by Heathens; though no doubt Balaam pretended to sacrifice to Jehovah the true God, in order to gain him over to him to agree to it to curse Israel, and persuaded Balak, though an idolater, to join with him; and, the more easily to bring him to it, mixes Heathen rites and customs in sacrifice to him:

and prepare me here seven oxen, and seven rams; which were creatures offered in sacrifice according to the law of Moses, and before that was given, and by persons who were not under it; and even by seven of each sort, and that by the express command of God, Job 42:8. It may be observed, that both in this, and the preceding clause, the word here is carefully expressed, namely, in one of the high places; there the altars were erected, and thither the oxen were brought to be sacrificed; so that both the place, and the number of the altars, savoured of Heathenish worship, in which he complied to induce the king to sacrifice to Jehovah.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Balaam, after the general custom of the pagan, prefaced his divinations by sacrifice. In the number of the altars regard was probably had to the number of the then known planets. Yet Balaam evidently intended his sacrifice as an offering to the true God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XXIII

Being arrived at the high places of Baal, (Numbers 22:41,)

Balaam orders Balak to build seven altars, and prepare oxen and

rams for sacrifice, 1, 2.

Balaam inquires of the Lord, receives an answer, with which he

returns to Balak, 3-10.

Balak, finding that this was a prediction of the prosperity of

the Israelites, is greatly troubled, 11.

Balaam excuses himself, 12.

He brings him to another place, where he might see only a part of

Israel, and repeats his sacrifices, 13, 14.

Balaam again consults the Lord, 15-17.

Returns with his answer, and again predicts the glory of Israel,

18-24.

Balak is angry, 25;

and Balaam again excuses himself. Balak proposes another trial,

takes him to another place, and repeats the same sacrifices,

26-30.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII

Verse Numbers 23:1. Build me here seven altars, c. — The oxen and the rams were such as the Mosaic law had ordered to be offered to God in sacrifice the building of seven altars was not commanded. Some think that these seven altars were built to the seven planets: this is most gratuitously said; of it there is no proof whatever; it is mere trifling, even with conjecture. As seven was a number of perfection, Balaam chose it on this occasion, because he intended to offer a grand sacrifice, and to offer a bullock and a ram upon each of the altars; the whole to be made a burnt-offering at the same time. And as he intended to offer seven bullocks and seven rams at the same time, it could not be conveniently done on one altar, therefore he ordered seven to be built. We need go no farther to find out his reasons.


 
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