Numbers 23:22
in Numbers 23God brought them out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
God bringeth them forth out of Egypt; He hath as it were the strength of the wild-ox.
KJV
God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.
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This verse in Numbers 23
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThis animal is called the unicorn, but I cannot say that I have seen him. But I have seen four brazen figures of him set up in the four-towered palace of the King of Ethiopia. From these figures I have been able to draw him …
This site's exposition
brought them out of Egypt
on Numbers 23:22-23
The oracle grounds Israel's strength in what God did, God brought them out of Egypt, and the figure of the horn follows from that. Adam Clarke says plainly that the animal behind the strength of an unicorn is uncertain and that the one-horned creature of heraldry has no counterpart in nature, and later readers commonly take the reem as the wild ox. Verse 23 puts Balaam's own trade out of work, since Albert Barnes reads the two words as augury and soothsayer's token, the terms of the craft that Joshua 13:22 uses when it calls Balaam the soothsayer.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Out of Egypt - Namely, by a strong hand, and in spite of all their enemies, and therefore it is in vain to seek or hope to overcome them. He - Israel, whom God brought out of Egypt, such change of numbers being very common in the Hebrew language. The sense is, Israel is not now what he was in Egypt, a poor, weak, dispirited, unarmed people, but high and strong and invincible.
God brought them out of Egypt,....
The power which had done that could never be restrained, never resisted; and, having begun so gloriously, he would no doubt finish gloriously. While they had God's presence with them they had the strength of a unicorn, able to make head against all that opposed them.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The strength of a unicorn - ראם reem and ראים reim. It is generally allowed that there is no such beast in nature as the unicorn; i. e., a creature of the horse kind, with one long rich curled horn in the forehead. The creature painted from fancy is represented as one of the supporters of the royal arms of Great Britain. It is difficult to say what kind of beast is intended by the original word.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn--Israel is not as they were at the Exodus, a horde of poor, feeble, spiritless people, but powerful and invincible as a reem--that is, a rhinoceros (Job 39:9;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
An unicorn - A wild bull, the now extinct Aurochs, formidable for its size, strength, speed, and ferocity.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֵ֖ל | ʾel | God | H410 → | 241 times |
| מוֹצִיאָ֣ם | motziam | [is] bringing out them | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| מִמִּצְרָ֑יִם | mimitzrayim | from Egypt | H4714 → | 641 times |
| כְּתוֹעֲפֹ֥ת | ketoafot | like [the] horns of | H8443 → | |
| רְאֵ֖ם | reem | a wild ox | H7214 → | |
| לֽוֹ׃ | lo | [belong] to <the> him |
אֵ֖לGod
ʾelH410 →241 times
מוֹצִיאָ֣ם[is] bringing out them
motziamH3318 →1067 times
מִמִּצְרָ֑יִםfrom Egypt
mimitzrayimH4714 →641 times
כְּתוֹעֲפֹ֥תlike [the] horns of
ketoafotH8443 →
רְאֵ֖םa wild ox
reemH7214 →
לֽוֹ׃[belong] to <the> him
lo
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Exodus 20:2“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 5:6
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Hosea 13:4
Yet I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but Me, for there is no Savior besides Me.
- Psalms 81:10
I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.
- Leviticus 26:13
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I broke the bars of your yoke and…
- Exodus 13:3
So Moses told the people, “Remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for the LORD brought you out of it by the strength of His…
- Deuteronomy 5:6
Through
Numbers 24:8God brought him out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox, to devour hostile nations and crush their bones, to pierce them with arrows.
it leads to
- Psalms 45:5
Your arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s foes; the nations fall beneath your feet.
- Psalms 45:5
Through
Psalms 22:21Save me from the mouth of the lion; at the horns of the wild oxen You have answered me!
it leads to
- 2 Timothy 4:17
But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of…
- 1 Peter 5:8
Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
- 2 Timothy 4:17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Numbers
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 11; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.