Numbers 24:6
in Numbers 24They spread out like palm groves, like gardens beside a stream, like aloes the LORD has planted, like cedars beside the waters.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
As valleys are they spread forth, As gardens by the river-side, As lign-aloes which Jehovah hath planted, As cedar-trees beside the waters.
KJV
As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.
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This verse in Numbers 24
Commentary
8 notes on this verseLign aloes which the Lord hath planted - Or, as the tents which the Lord hath pitched; for it is the same word, אהלים ohalim, which is used in the 5th verse. But from other parts of Scripture we find that the word also signifies a species of tree, called by some the sandal tree, and by others the lignum or wood aloes.
This site's exposition
How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob
on Numbers 24:5-6
The man hired to curse supplies the words that open the Jewish morning prayer known as Mah Tovu, which begins from verse 5. What he praises is what he can see from the height, tents pitched by standard, and the four pictures in verse 6 are all of water and growth in dry country. Trees the Lord hath planted is the one picture with a planter named in it, and Psalm 1:3 keeps the same figure. Keil and Delitzsch identify the lign aloes as an eastern tree that did not grow in Moab, so the image is fetched from beyond the speaker's own country.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
As the valleys - Which often from a small beginning are spread forth far and wide. As gardens - Pleasant and fruitful and secured by a fence. As lign-aloes - An Arabian and Indian tree of a sweet smell, yielding shade and shelter both to man and beast; such is Israel, not only safe themselves, but yielding shelter to all that join themselves to them.
As the valleys are they spread forth,....
The righteous, doubtless, is more excellent than his neighbour. They are trees which the Lord has planted; that is their excellency. The branches of righteousness are the planting of the Lord.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
As the valleys--Hebrew, "brooks," the watercourses of the mountains. lign aloes--an aromatic shrub on the banks of his native Euphrates, the conical form of which suggested an apt resemblance to a tent.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
How goodly are thy tents, . . . O Israel!--a fine burst of admiration, expressed in highly poetical strains. All travellers describe the beauty which the circular area of Bedouin tents impart to the desert.
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
As gardens by the river’s side - Balaam’s language reflects the famous artificial gardens along the banks of his own river, the Euphrates. As the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted - The latter words contain an apparent reference to Paradise (compare Gen 2:8). The aloe, imported from China and the far distant east, furnished to the ancients one of the most fragrant and precious of spices; compare Psa 45:8; Pro 7:17, As cedar trees beside the waters - i. e., as the noblest of trees branching forth in the fairest of situations: an image of majestic beauty, as that of the last verse was of rare fecundity.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּנְחָלִ֣ים | kinchalim | like wadis | H5158 → | 141 times |
| נִטָּ֔יוּ | nitayu | [which] they are stretched out | H5186 → | 214 times |
| כְּגַנֹּ֖ת | keganot | like gardens | H1593 → | |
| עֲלֵ֣י | ʾalei | at | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| נָהָ֑ר | nahar | a river | H5104 → | |
| כַּאֲהָלִים֙ | kaahalim | like aloes | H174 → | |
| נָטַ֣ע | nata' | [which] he has planted | H5193 → | |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| כַּאֲרָזִ֖ים | kaarazim | like cedars | H730 → | |
| עֲלֵי־ | ʾalei- | at | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מָֽיִם׃ | mayim | waters | H4325 → | 581 times |
כִּנְחָלִ֣יםlike wadis
kinchalimH5158 →141 times
נִטָּ֔יוּ[which] they are stretched out
nitayuH5186 →214 times
כְּגַנֹּ֖תlike gardens
keganotH1593 →
עֲלֵ֣יat
ʾaleiH5921 →5755 times
נָהָ֑רa river
naharH5104 →
כַּאֲהָלִים֙like aloes
kaahalimH174 →
נָטַ֣ע[which] he has planted
nata'H5193 →
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
כַּאֲרָזִ֖יםlike cedars
kaarazimH730 →
עֲלֵי־at
ʾalei-H5921 →5755 times
מָֽיִם׃waters
mayimH4325 →581 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
Psalms 1:3He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:8
He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not…
- Ezekiel 47:12
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of all kinds will grow. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. Each month they will bear fruit, because the water from…
- Psalms 92:14
In old age they will still bear fruit; healthy and green they will remain,
- John 15:6
If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.
- Ezekiel 19:10
Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant waters.
- Jeremiah 17:8
Through
Isaiah 58:11The LORD will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
it leads to
- John 4:14
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
- Jeremiah 31:12
They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD—the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and…
- Psalms 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will give you counsel and watch over you.
- John 4:14
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); 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; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.