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Numbers 24:20

in Numbers 24

Then Balaam saw Amalek and lifted up an oracle, saying: “Amalek was first among the nations, but his end is destruction.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And he looked on Amalek, and took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; But his latter end shall come to destruction.

KJV

And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever.

This verse in Numbers 24

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

The Six Days of Creation · Written before 397.

In the book also, which is titled On Numbers, Scripture says: 'The beginning of the nations is Amalek, and his seed shall perish' (Num. XXIV, 20). And indeed, Amalek is not the first of all nations; but because by interpretation Amalek is taken to mean the king of the wicked, and the wicked are the nations: beware lest we should take the prince of this world, who commands the nations doing his will, whose seed shall perish.

This site's exposition

Amalek was the first of the nations

on Numbers 24:20-22

Amalek is called the first of the nations, and Genesis 36:12 makes Amalek a grandson of Esau, so the older commentators read first as first in the assault of Exodus 17:8 or first in standing rather than first in time. The two short oracles of verses 20 and 21 arrive together on one day at 1 Samuel 15, where Saul is sent against Amalek and warns the Kenites out from among them at 15:6. The Kenites are the people of Moses' father in law, who went up with Judah at Judges 1:16, so the oracle here addresses a friend of Israel. Thy nest in a rock plays on the sound of their name, and the captivity by Asshur in verse 22 is the Assyrian deportation the north met at 2 Kings 15:29.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

He looked on Amalek - From the top of Pisgah, which was exceeding high, and gave him the prospect of part of all these kingdoms. The first - Hebrew. the firstfruits; so called either, because they were the first of all the neighbouring nations which were embodied together in one government: or, because he was the first who fought against Israel and was vanquished by them.
And when he looked on Amalek,....

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Amalek was the first of the nations - The most ancient and most powerful of all the nations or states then within the view of Balaam; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever, or his posterity אחריתו acharitho, shall be destroyed, or shall utterly fail. This oracle began to be fulfilled by Saul, 1Sa 15:7, 1Sa 15:8, who overthrew the Amalekites, and took their king, Agag, prisoner.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Amalek . . . his latter end shall be that he perish for ever--Their territory was seen at the remote extremity of the desert. (See on Ex 17:13; also 1Sa 15:1-35).
When he looked - i. e., in spirit, as he saw the Star Num 24:17. Amalek was the first of the nations - Rather, is pre-eminent among the neighboring nations: compare the same expression in Amo 6:1. Hence, the force of the words Num 24:7 “higher than Agag,” i. e., than the king of this powerful nation (compare Num 14:45; Exo 17:8). This rank, due to the warlike prowess of the tribe, Balaam contrasts with its approaching downfall and extinction.

The words behind it

12 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.

  • וַיַּרְא֙and he saw

    vaiyar'H72001300 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • עֲמָלֵ֔קAmalek

    ʾamalekH600239 times

  • וַיִּשָּׂ֥אand he lifted up

    vaiyisa'H5375656 times

  • מְשָׁל֖וֹoracle his

    meshaloH491239 times

  • וַיֹּאמַ֑רand he said

    vaiyomarH5595305 times

  • רֵאשִׁ֤ית[was the] first of

    reshitH722551 times

  • גּוֹיִם֙[the] nations

    goyimH1471561 times

  • עֲמָלֵ֔קAmalek

    ʾamalekH600239 times

  • וְאַחֲרִית֖וֹand end its

    veacharitoH31961 times

  • עֲדֵ֥י[will be] to

    ʾadeiH57041261 times

  • אֹבֵֽד׃destruction

    ʾovedH8

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

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

    Exodus 17:14

    Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 30:1

      On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Exodus 34:27

      The LORD also said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

    • 1 Samuel 30:17

      And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man escaped, except four hundred young men who fled, riding off on camels.

  • Through

    Exodus 17:8

    After this, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 36:12

      Additionally, Timna, a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, gave birth to Amalek. These are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.

    • Deuteronomy 25:17–19

      Remember what the Amalekites did to you along your way from Egypt,

  • Through

    1 Samuel 30:1

    On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 29:11

      So David and his men got up early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

    • 1 Samuel 15:7

      Then Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt.

  • Through

    Judges 6:3

    Whenever the Israelites would plant their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east would come up and invade them,

    it leads to

    • Judges 6:33

      Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

Where this verse is studied

About Numbers

The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, The Six Days of Creation; 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.