Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Deuteronomy 23:4

in Deuteronomy 23

For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

KJV

Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

⋯

This verse in Deuteronomy 23

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD

on Deuteronomy 23:3-6

Moab and Ammon are charged with withholding food and water and hiring Balaam. Nehemiah 13:1-2 quotes the charge back, the turned curse included.

This site's exposition

they hired Balaam son of Beor

Travellers of that age found no inns on the way, and Wesley notes that a people was expected to meet them with food and water. Moab and Ammon descend from Lot. Barnes treats the Ammonite and the Moabite as one stock, acting together as at 2 Chronicles 20:1.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Because they met you not with bread and with water,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

However this omission of the Ammonites should be remembered against their nation in future ages. Note, God will certainly reckon, not only with those that oppose his people, but with those that do not help and further them, when it is in the power of their hand to do it. The charge at the great day is for an omission: I was hungry, and you gave me no meat.

The words behind it

22 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • דְּבַ֞ר[the] thing

    devarH1697 →1440 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֨ר<of> that

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • לֹא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • קִדְּמ֤וּthey met

    kidemuH6923 →

  • אֶתְכֶם֙<obj.> you

    ʾetkhemH853 →10935 times

  • בַּלֶּ֣חֶםwith <the> food

    balechemH3899 →298 times

  • וּבַמַּ֔יִםand with <the> water

    uvamayimH4325 →581 times

  • בַּדֶּ֖רֶךְon the way

    baderekhH1870 →707 times

  • בְּצֵאתְכֶ֣םwhen came out you

    betzetekhemH3318 →1067 times

  • מִמִּצְרָ֑יִםfrom Egypt

    mimitzrayimH4714 →641 times

  • וַאֲשֶׁר֩and that

    vaasherH834 →5497 times

  • שָׂכַ֨רhe hired

    sakharH7936 →

  • עָלֶ֜יךָon you

    ʾaleikhaH5921 →5755 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • בִּלְעָ֣םBalaam

    bilamH1109 →

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H1121 →4930 times

  • בְּע֗וֹרBeor

    beorH1160 →

  • מִפְּת֛וֹרfrom Pethor

    mipetorH6604 →

  • אֲרַ֥םAram

    ʾaramH763 →

  • נַהֲרַ֖יִםNaharaim

    naharayimH763 →

  • לְקַֽלְלֶֽךָּ׃to curse you

    lekalekaH7043 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Numbers 22:5he sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates in the land of his people. “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt,” said Balak. “They cover the face of the land and have settled next to me.9 worksNehemiah 13:2because they had not met the Israelites with food and water, but had hired Balaam to call down a curse against them (although our God had turned the curse into a blessing).6 worksJude 1:11Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.6 works2 Peter 2:15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.5 worksNumbers 23:7And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!’5 works1 Kings 18:4for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)4 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Deuteronomy 2:28–29You can sell us food to eat and water to drink in exchange for silver. Only let us pass through on foot,4 worksNumbers 22:17for I will honor you richly and do whatever you say. So please come and put a curse on this people for me!’”3 worksZechariah 2:8For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “After His Glory has sent Me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye—3 works1 Samuel 25:11Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give them to these men whose origin I do not know?”3 worksMatthew 25:40And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’3 worksActs 9:4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”3 worksGenesis 24:10Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all manner of good things from his master in hand. And he set out for Nahor’s hometown in Aram-naharaim.3 worksIsaiah 63:9In all their distress, He too was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.2 worksGenesis 14:17–18After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).2 worksNumbers 22:32The angel of the LORD asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you, because your way is perverse before me.2 worksJudges 8:5So Gideon said to the men of Succoth, “Please give my troops some bread, for they are exhausted, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”2 worksActs 2:9Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Nehemiah 13:2

    because they had not met the Israelites with food and water, but had hired Balaam to call down a curse against them (although our God had turned the curse into a blessing).

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 23:5

      Yet the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, and the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.

    • Joshua 24:9–10

      Then Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you,

    • Psalms 109:28

      Though they curse, You will bless. When they rise up, they will be put to shame, but Your servant will rejoice.

  • Through

    2 Peter 2:15

    They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

    it leads to

    • Revelation 2:14

      But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food…

    • Jude 1:11

      Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

    • Deuteronomy 23:4–5

      For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.

    • Numbers 22:5–7

      he sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates in the land of his people. “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt,” said Balak. “They cover the…

    • Numbers 31:16

      “Look, these women caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to turn unfaithfully against the LORD at Peor, so that the plague struck the congregation of the LORD.

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 23 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Deuteronomy 23 →