Numbers 24

Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel. So this time he did not go looking for magic signs, as he had done before. Instead he turned his face toward the desert.

1And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

Note"Enchantments" in the King James is not stage magic. Balaam was a professional diviner, and on the earlier occasions he had gone off alone to look for omens, signs read from natural events or from the entrails of sacrificed animals, before delivering his verdict. This time he skips that step.

2Balaam looked up and saw Israel camped tribe by tribe, and the Spirit of God came on him.

2And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the spirit of God came upon him.

NoteIsrael is camped "tribe by tribe": the people were organized into twelve family groups, each descended from one of Jacob's sons, and each with its own assigned section of the camp. Balaam is seeing an ordered military-style encampment laid out below him.

3He began his spoken message and said: "This is what Balaam son of Beor says. This is what the man whose eyes are open says.

3And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:

Note"Took up his parable" translates a Hebrew word (mashal) that covers proverbs, taunts and formal poetry. Here it means a chanted oracle in verse, the kind of speech a professional seer was paid to deliver. Balaam speaks of himself in the third person, as such oracles conventionally did. "The man whose eyes are open" renders a rare Hebrew word whose sense is disputed; it may mean open, or it may mean shut. The point either way is that he sees what ordinary sight does not.

4This is what the one says who heard the words of God, who saw a vision from the Almighty, who fell down with his eyes wide open:

4He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:

Note"The Almighty" here is Shaddai, an ancient title for God used mostly in old poetry and in the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Its literal meaning is uncertain. "Falling into a trance, but having his eyes open" is literally "falling, with eyes uncovered", the seer drops to the ground while remaining aware of what he is shown. The King James word "trance" is an interpretation, not in the Hebrew.

5How good your tents are, Jacob. How good your homes are, Israel!

5How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!

NoteJacob and Israel are two names for the same man (the patriarch was renamed Israel) and Hebrew poetry uses them interchangeably for the nation descended from him. The two lines say one thing twice, which is how Hebrew verse works. "Tabernacles" in 1611 English simply meant tents or dwellings. It is not a reference to the tent-sanctuary called the tabernacle.

6They spread out like valleys, like gardens beside a river, like aloe trees the LORD himself planted, like cedar trees beside the water.

6As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.

Note"Lign aloes" is the King James name for aloewood, a fragrant tropical timber burned as incense and used to scent clothing and bedding. It is not the medicinal aloe plant. The first comparison is uncertain: the Hebrew word can mean valleys or streambeds, and some read it instead as palm groves. Cedars were the prized building timber of the region, imported from Lebanon.

7Water will pour from his buckets, and his seed will have plenty of water. His king will be greater than Agag, and his kingdom will be lifted high.

7He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.

Note"Seed" means offspring, descendants, standard King James usage. Water pouring from buckets and abundant water for the seed are images of fertility and a large, prosperous population, in a land where water was the limit on both. Agag was a king of the Amalekites, a hostile desert people; the name may have been a royal title rather than one man's name. To be "greater than Agag" is to outrank the most formidable king the hearers could think of. Some ancient copies read "Gog" here instead.

8God brought him out of Egypt. He has strength like a wild ox. He will devour the nations that fight him, crush their bones, and shoot them through with his arrows.

8God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.

NoteThe King James "unicorn" is a mistranslation by way of the Greek and Latin versions. The Hebrew re'em is the aurochs, the huge wild ox of the ancient Near East, hunted to extinction in modern times, a byword for untameable strength.

9He crouched down; he lay down like a lion, like a lioness. Who dares to wake him up? Anyone who blesses you is blessed, and anyone who curses you is cursed."

9He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.

NoteThe closing line echoes the promise made to Abraham in Genesis: whoever blesses his descendants is blessed, whoever curses them is cursed. Balak hired Balaam precisely to curse them, so the oracle turns the curse back on the man who paid for it.

10Then Balak's anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to Balaam, "I called you here to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them three times instead.

10And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times.

NoteStriking the hands together was a recognized gesture of rage, scorn or derision, roughly like slamming a fist on a table. It is not applause.

11So get out of here and go home! I planned to give you great honor, but the LORD has kept that honor from you."

11Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote thee unto great honour; but, lo, the LORD hath kept thee back from honour.

Note"Honour" here means payment. Balak had promised Balaam a rich fee for his professional services; he is saying he now intends to pay nothing, and that it is the LORD's doing that Balaam goes home empty-handed.

12Balaam said to Balak, "Didn't I already say this to the messengers you sent me?

12And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying,

13I told them, 'Even if Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go past what the LORD commands and do anything, good or bad, on my own. Whatever the LORD says, that is what I will say.'

13If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the LORD, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the LORD saith, that will I speak?

Note"A house full of silver and gold" is a proverbial way of saying an unimaginable fortune. There were no coins yet; silver and gold were weighed out by the piece.

14Now I am going back to my own people. But come, let me tell you what this people will do to your people in the days to come."

14And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.

NoteThe King James "advertise" means inform or warn, its 1611 sense, with no connection to advertising. "The latter days" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning the far end of the future, the days to come. It does not necessarily mean the end of the world; it means a time well beyond the speaker's own.

15Then he began his spoken message and said: "This is what Balaam son of Beor says. This is what the man whose eyes are open says.

15And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:

16This is what the one says who heard the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who saw a vision from the Almighty, who fell down with his eyes wide open:

16He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:

17I see him, but not now. I look at him, but he is not near. A star will come out of Jacob, and a ruler's staff will rise out of Israel. He will crush the head of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth.

17I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.

NoteA star and a scepter (a ruler's staff of office) both stand for a king. The oracle says a king will arise from Israel at some distance in the future (Balaam sees him, but "not now" and "not near." "Smite the corners of Moab" is ambiguous in Hebrew: the word can mean the sides or borders of the territory, or the temples of the head, hence "crush the skull." Moab is the kingdom Balak rules, so this is a threat against his own people. "The children of Sheth" is uncertain. It may mean the descendants of Seth, Adam's son, and so all humanity in that region; a related passage in Jeremiah reads the word as "tumult," giving "the sons of tumult") a name for a warlike people.

18Edom will be taken over, and Seir, his enemy, will be taken over too. But Israel will act with courage.

18And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly.

NoteEdom was the nation descended from Esau, Jacob's brother, occupying the rugged country south-east of the Dead Sea. Seir is the mountain range at the heart of that territory, and the two names are used for the same place. "Will be taken over" means conquered and held as territory by someone else.

19A ruler will come out of Jacob, and he will destroy whoever is left in the city."

19Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.

20Then Balaam looked at Amalek and began his spoken message: "Amalek was the first of the nations, but in the end he will be destroyed forever."

20And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever.

NoteThe Amalekites were nomads of the southern desert who had attacked Israel shortly after the escape from Egypt. "First of the nations" can mean first in time, the oldest, or first in rank, the foremost, the Hebrew allows both.

21He looked at the Kenites and began his spoken message: "The place where you live is strong, and your nest is set in the rock.

21And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwellingplace, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock.

NoteThe Kenites were a small metalworking and herding people living in the rocky country south of Judah; Moses' father-in-law is elsewhere identified as one. There is a pun in the Hebrew that English cannot carry: their name (Kain) sounds like the word for nest (ken), and their strongholds were built high in the cliffs, out of reach.

22Even so, the Kenites will be ruined when Asshur carries you away as a prisoner."

22Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.

NoteAsshur is Assyria, the empire of northern Mesopotamia whose armies deported whole populations. The name is also that of a small Arabian tribe, and which is meant here is disputed. The verse repeats the Kain/nest wordplay of the previous line: the nest looks safe until someone comes to take it.

23Then he began his spoken message and said: "Oh! Who will stay alive when God does this?

23And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this!

NoteThis line is one of the most damaged in the Hebrew Bible; the text as it stands is barely construable, and translators fill the gap differently, "who will survive when God does this," or "who can live unless God has willed it." The King James and the plain rendering both give one plausible reading of an obscure original.

24Ships will come from the coast of Chittim. They will bring trouble on Asshur and bring trouble on Eber, but he too will be destroyed forever."

24And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever.

NoteChittim (Kittim) originally meant Cyprus, and came to stand for the seafaring peoples of the western Mediterranean generally, later readers applied it to the Greeks and then the Romans. Eber is the ancestor whose name lies behind the word "Hebrew," though the term may also mean the peoples living "beyond" the Euphrates. The oracle predicts invaders arriving by sea who will overrun even the great inland powers, and then fall themselves.

25Then Balaam got up and went back home, and Balak went on his way as well.

25And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place: and Balak also went his way.

Note"His place" is his homeland, far to the north-east near the Euphrates, the region he was summoned from at the start of the story.