Numbers 22:15
in Numbers 22Then Balak sent other princes, more numerous and more distinguished than the first messengers.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honorable than they.
KJV
And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honourable than they.
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This verse in Numbers 22
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Balak, like the ancient pagan world generally, not only believed in the efficacy of the curses and incantations of the soothsayers, but regarded their services as strictly venal. Hence, when his first offer was declined, he infers at once that he had not bid high enough.
This site's exposition
And Balak sent yet again princes
on Numbers 22:15-17
The second embassy is graded upward in number and in rank, and the offer climbs from a diviner's fee to promotion unto very great honour with a blank promise attached, I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me. Balak is treating a settled answer as an opening price. 2 Peter 2:15 names what was on the table, calling it the wages of unrighteousness, and Jude 11 says Balaam ran greedily after it for reward.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He sent to this conjurer with as great respect and deference to his quality as if he had been a sovereign prince, apprehending perhaps that Balaam had thought himself slighted in the fewness and meanness of the former messengers. The request was very urgent. This powerful prince becomes a suitor to him: " Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
And Balak sent yet again princes more, and more honourable than they. More in number, and greater in quality, princes of the first rank in his court; supposing that Balaam thought he was not treated with respect enough, they being princes of the meaner sort, and but few, that were sent unto him before, which he imagined was the reason, at least one reason, why he refused to come with them; persons of Balaam's character in those days being highly revered.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The permission granted to Balaam is in accordance with the ordinary procedure of Providence. God often gives up men to follow the impulse of their own lusts; but there is no approval in thus leaving them to act at the prompting of their own wicked hearts (Jos 13:27).
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
הלוך עמנו, for we do not appear as men of substance in his eyes.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֥סֶף | vaiyosef | and he repeated | H3254 → | 212 times |
| ע֖וֹד | od | again | H5750 → | 490 times |
| בָּלָ֑ק | balak | Balak | H1111 → | 43 times |
| שְׁלֹ֣חַ | sheloach | to send | H7971 → | 845 times |
| שָׂרִ֔ים | sarim | leaders | H8269 → | 421 times |
| רַבִּ֥ים | rabim | many | H7227 → | 454 times |
| וְנִכְבָּדִ֖ים | venikhbadim | and honored | H3513 → | 113 times |
| מֵאֵֽלֶּה׃ | meeleh | more than these | H428 → | 746 times |
וַיֹּ֥סֶףand he repeated
vaiyosefH3254 →212 times
ע֖וֹדagain
odH5750 →490 times
בָּלָ֑קBalak
balakH1111 →43 times
שְׁלֹ֣חַto send
sheloachH7971 →845 times
שָׂרִ֔יםleaders
sarimH8269 →421 times
רַבִּ֥יםmany
rabimH7227 →454 times
וְנִכְבָּדִ֖יםand honored
venikhbadimH3513 →113 times
מֵאֵֽלֶּה׃more than these
meelehH428 →746 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.