Numbers 24:14
in Numbers 24Now I am going back to my people, but come, let me warn you what this people will do to your people in the days to come.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And now, behold, I go unto my people: come, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.
KJV
And 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.
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This verse in Numbers 24
Commentary
7 notes on this verseWhat the counsel was is not set down here, because it was given privately, but we are told afterwards what it was, ch. xxxi. He counselled him to entice the Israelites to idolatry, Rev. ii. Since he could not have leave from God to curse them, he puts him in a way of getting help from the devil to tempt them.
This site's exposition
Spake I not also to thy messengers
on Numbers 24:12-14
Balaam answers by quoting himself from 22:18, and the quotation is close without being exact, since the word of the Lord my God there becomes the commandment of the Lord here with of mine own mind added. He kept that word to the letter, and 2 Peter 2:15 still describes his way as the way of a man who loved the wages of unrighteousness. His offer to advertise Balak what this people shall do to thy people is the last thing he says before the fourth oracle, and 31:16 reports what he actually left behind, the counsel that brought Israel down at Peor. The phrase in the latter days occurs here for the first time in the King James Old Testament, and Genesis 49:1 rendered the same Hebrew as the last days when Jacob gathered his sons to tell them what would befall them.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
9 He 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. The blessing itself which Balaam here pronounces upon Israel is much the same with the two we had in the foregoing chapter; but the introduction to it is different.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-run:31w-of-60
And now, behold, I go unto my people,....
Our Lord Jesus, the promised Messiah, is chiefly pointed at in the antitype, and of him it is an illustrious prophecy; it was the will of God that notice should thus be given of his coming, a great while before, not only to the people of the Jews, but to other nations, because his gospel and kingdom were to extend themselves so far beyond the borders of the land of Israel.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together--The "smiting of the hands together" is, among Oriental people, an indication of the most violent rage (see Eze 21:17;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
I will advertise thee - i. e., “I will advise thee,” words which refer to the ensuing prophecy.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Since Balaam wanted to tell [Balak] about the punishment [that would befall] his people, as it is written, and he shall smite through the corners of Moab, 227 Further Verse.
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
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְעַתָּ֕ה | veatah | and now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| הִנְנִ֥י | hini | here I | H2005 → | 316 times |
| הוֹלֵ֖ךְ | holekh | [am] about to go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| לְעַמִּ֑י | leami | to people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| לְכָה֙ | lekhah | come ! | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| אִיעָ֣צְךָ֔ | ʾiatzekha | I will advise you | H3289 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֨ר | ʾasher | [that] which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יַעֲשֶׂ֜ה | yaaseh | it will do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| הָעָ֥ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| הַזֶּ֛ה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| לְעַמְּךָ֖ | leamekha | to people your | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| בְּאַחֲרִ֥ית | beacharit | at [the] end of | H319 → | 61 times |
| הַיָּמִֽים׃ | haiyamim | the days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
וְעַתָּ֕הand now
veatahH6258 →433 times
הִנְנִ֥יhere I
hiniH2005 →316 times
הוֹלֵ֖ךְ[am] about to go
holekhH1980 →1546 times
לְעַמִּ֑יto people my
leamiH5971 →1873 times
לְכָה֙come !
lekhahH1980 →1546 times
אִיעָ֣צְךָ֔I will advise you
ʾiatzekhaH3289 →
אֲשֶׁ֨ר[that] which
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
יַעֲשֶׂ֜הit will do
yaasehH6213 →2628 times
הָעָ֥םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
הַזֶּ֛ה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
לְעַמְּךָ֖to people your
leamekhaH5971 →1873 times
בְּאַחֲרִ֥יתat [the] end of
beacharitH319 →61 times
הַיָּמִֽים׃the days
haiyamimH3117 →2304 times
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
2 Timothy 3:1But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come.
it leads to
- 2 Peter 3:3
Most importantly, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
- 2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.
- 1 Timothy 4:1–3
Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,
- 1 John 2:18
Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:3–12
Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed.
- 2 Peter 3:3
Through
Revelation 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…
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 2 separate paths from here.
- 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.
- 2 Peter 2:15
Through
Daniel 2:28But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions that came into your…
it leads to
- Daniel 10:14
Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision concerns those days.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Daniel 10:14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
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) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.