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Numbers 22:5

in Numbers 22

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 face of the land and have settled next to me.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And he sent messengers unto Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me.

KJV

He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me:

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This verse in Numbers 22

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
Balaam the son of Beor was from the first a worshipper in some sort of the true God; and had learned some elements of pure and true religion in his home in the far East, the cradle of the ancestors of Israel. But though prophesying, doubtless even before the ambassadors of Balak came to him, in the name of the true God, yet prophecy was still to him as before a mere business, not a religion. The summons of Balak proved to be a crisis in his career: and he failed under the trial.

This site's exposition

Now shall this company lick up

on Numbers 22:4-5

Moab takes counsel with the elders of Midian, and Moab came of Lot while Midian came of Abraham by Keturah at Genesis 25:1-2, so the two peoples hiring a curse are relations of the nation they fear. Balaam is fetched from Pethor by the river, which Deuteronomy 23:4 places in Mesopotamia, hundreds of miles up the Euphrates from the Jordan. A plaster inscription uncovered at Tell Deir Alla in Jordan in 1967, written centuries after this in an Aramaic dialect, opens with the words of Balaam son of Beor, a seer of the gods, so the name was carried in that country outside Israel's books.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam--that is, "lord" or "devourer" of people, a famous soothsayer (Jos 13:22). son of Beor--or, in the Chaldee form, Bosor--that is, "destruction." Pethor--a city of Mesopotamia, situated on the Euphrates.

The words behind it

28 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.

  • וַיִּשְׁלַ֨חand he sent

    vaiyishlachH7971 →845 times

  • מַלְאָכִ֜יםmessengers

    malakhimH4397 →213 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • בִּלְעָ֣םBalaam

    bilamH1109 →61 times

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H1121 →4930 times

  • בְּע֗וֹרBeor

    beorH1160 →10 times

  • פְּ֠תוֹרָהPethor towards

    petorahH6604 →

  • אֲשֶׁ֧רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • עַל־[was] at

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הַנָּהָ֛רthe river

    hanaharH5104 →

  • אֶ֥רֶץ[the] land of

    ʾeretzH776 →2504 times

  • בְּנֵי־[the] sons of

    benei-H1121 →4930 times

  • עַמּ֖וֹpeople his

    amoH5971 →1873 times

  • לִקְרֹא־to summon

    likro'-H7121 →733 times

  • ל֑וֹ<to> <the> him

    lo

  • לֵאמֹ֗ר<to> saying

    lemorH559 →5305 times

  • הִ֠נֵּהhere!

    hinehH2009 →843 times

  • עַ֣םa people

    ʾamH5971 →1873 times

  • יָצָ֤אit has come out

    yatza'H3318 →1067 times

  • מִמִּצְרַ֙יִם֙from Egypt

    mimitzrayimH4714 →641 times

  • הִנֵּ֤הhere!

    hinehH2009 →843 times

  • כִסָּה֙it has covered

    khisahH3680 →152 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • עֵ֣ין[the] eye of

    ʾeinH5869 →887 times

  • הָאָ֔רֶץthe land

    haaretzH776 →2504 times

  • וְה֥וּאand it

    vehu'H1931 →1879 times

  • יֹשֵׁ֖ב[is] dwelling

    yoshevH3427 →1079 times

  • מִמֻּלִֽי׃from in front of me

    mimuliH4136 →36 times

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

Related verses

14 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.

Deuteronomy 23:4For 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.9 worksJoshua 24:9Then Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you,5 worksMicah 6:5My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may acknowledge the righteousness of the LORD.’”5 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.4 worksJoshua 13:22The Israelites also killed the diviner Balaam son of Beor along with the others they put to the sword.3 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!’3 works
The other 8 cross-references, with their words ▾
Numbers 23:22God brought them out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox.3 worksRevelation 2:14But 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 sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.2 worksExodus 1:7–10but the Israelites were fruitful and increased rapidly; they multiplied and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.2 worksGenesis 13:16I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.2 worksPsalms 105:24And the LORD made His people very fruitful, more numerous than their foes,2 works2 Peter 2:15–16They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.2 worksNehemiah 13:1–2At that time the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people, and in it they found the passage stating that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,2 worksExodus 15:14The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the dwellers of Philistia.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

    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.

    it leads to

    • 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.

      Reached by 4 separate paths from here.

    • 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…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 John 3:12

      Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.

    • Genesis 4:3–14

      So in the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruit of the soil as an offering to the LORD,

    • Hebrews 11:4

      By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous when God gave approval to his gifts. And by faith he still speaks, even though he…

  • Through

    Micah 6:5

    My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may acknowledge the righteousness of the LORD.’”

    it leads to

    • Joshua 5:9–10

      Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day.

    • Numbers 25:1

      While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab,

    • Judges 5:11

      the voices of the singers at the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous deeds of His villagers in Israel. Then the people of the LORD went…

Where this verse is studied

What the record shows

2 entries
  • Balaam son of Beor — attested in contemporary inscriptionwell-supported

    Tell Deir Alla plaster inscription ('Balaam son of Beor, seer of the gods')

    Biblical figure (Non-Israelite seer, inscription ca. 800 BC) identified in extra-biblical epigraphy.

    Counterpoint: The Deir Alla plaster text dates to about 800 BC, centuries after the events of Numbers, so it attests a living Transjordanian tradition about "Balaam son of Beor, seer of the gods" rather than the man himself. Its dialect is still argued over (Aramaic, Ammonite, or a local Canaanite tongue), and Jo Ann Hackett's study stresses that the religious world of the text is not the Bible's.

  • Deir Alla Plaster Inscription (Balaam Text)well-supported

    Tell Deir Alla, Jordan Valley · Jordan Archaeological Museum, Amman

    Counterpoint: The plaster text does open by naming Balaam son of Beor as a seer, but its language sits between Aramaic and Canaanite and has never been firmly classified — Hoftijzer and van der Kooij, Jo Ann Hackett, and others reach different conclusions. Its content is thoroughly polytheistic and shares no wording with Numbers 22-24, so it shows that a Balaam tradition circulated in Transjordan, not that this text and the Bible are connected.

About Numbers

An Angel Appears to Balaam — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
An Angel Appears to Balaam — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Numbers: the study guide →Read Numbers 22 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Numbers 22 →