Numbers 24:23
in Numbers 24Once more Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Ah, who can live unless God has ordained it?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this?
KJV
And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this!
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This verse in Numbers 24
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
When God doeth this - The eventual carrying away of the allies of Israel by Assyria presented itself to Balaam as the ruin of all peace and safety upon earth. One prediction was howerer, yet wanting, and is next given, namely, that the conquerors of the Kenites should fare no better than the Kenites themselves.
This site's exposition
Alas, who shall live when God doeth this
on Numbers 24:23-25
The last parable is four lines long and names nobody for the ships, only the coast they come from. Chittim is Kittim, listed among the sons of Javan at Genesis 10:4 and taken for Cyprus with the western coasts beyond it, and Daniel 11:30 uses the same phrase of a fleet that turned a king back. Who Eber stands for is disputed, since the name is the ancestor of the Hebrews at Genesis 10:21 and can also carry the sense of the country beyond the river, and Albert Barnes and Keil and Delitzsch take it differently. Then Balaam goes to his place and Balak goes his way, and the next word the book has of him is 31:8, where he is killed among the kings of Midian, so what he did between these two verses the narrative leaves unsaid.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And he took up his parable, and said,....
The prophecy itself is observable. Both Greece and Italy lie much upon the sea, and therefore their armies were sent forth mostly in ships. Now he seems here to foretell, (1.) That the forces of the Grecians should humble and bring down the Assyrians, who were united with the Persians, which was fulfilled when the eastern country was overcome, or overrun rather, by Alexander.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Who shall live when God doeth this! - There are two senses in which these words may be taken: - 1. That the event is so distant that none then alive could possibly live to see it. 2. That the times would be so distressing and desolating that scarcely any should be able to escape. The words are very similar to those of our Lord, and probably are to be taken in the same sense: “Wo to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days.”
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּשָּׂ֥א | vaiyisa' | and he lifted up | H5375 → | 656 times |
| מְשָׁל֖וֹ | meshalo | oracle his | H4912 → | 39 times |
| וַיֹּאמַ֑ר | vaiyomar | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| א֕וֹי | ʾo | woe! | H188 → | |
| מִ֥י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יִחְיֶ֖ה | yichyeh | will he live | H2421 → | 282 times |
| מִשֻּׂמ֥וֹ | misumo | from when ordains it | H7760 → | 584 times |
| אֵֽל׃ | ʾel | God | H410 → | 241 times |
וַיִּשָּׂ֥אand he lifted up
vaiyisa'H5375 →656 times
מְשָׁל֖וֹoracle his
meshaloH4912 →39 times
וַיֹּאמַ֑רand he said
vaiyomarH559 →5305 times
א֕וֹיwoe!
ʾoH188 →
מִ֥יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
יִחְיֶ֖הwill he live
yichyehH2421 →282 times
מִשֻּׂמ֥וֹfrom when ordains it
misumoH7760 →584 times
אֵֽל׃God
ʾelH410 →241 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
Numbers 23:23For there is no spell against Jacob and no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What great things God has done!’
it leads to
- Luke 10:18–19
So He told them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
- Joshua 13:22
The Israelites also killed the diviner Balaam son of Beor along with the others they put to the sword.
- Micah 6:4–5
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery. I sent Moses before you, as well as Aaron and Miriam.
- Psalms 64:9
Then all mankind will fear and proclaim the work of God; so they will ponder what He has done.
- Luke 10:18–19
Through
Malachi 3:2But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
it leads to
- Zechariah 13:9
This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They…
- Isaiah 4:4
when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.
- 1 Corinthians 3:13–15
his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work.
- Zechariah 13:9
Through
2 Kings 5:1Now Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly regarded, for through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. And…
it leads to
- Luke 4:27
And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. Yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
- Luke 4:27
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
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; 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.