Numbers 23:14 BSB — MannaFest

Numbers 23:14

So Balak took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.

KJV

And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.

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Commentary

1 voice

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

The field of Zophim - Or, “of watchers.” It lay upon the top of Pisgah, north of the former station, and nearer to the Israelite camp; the greater part of which was, however, probably concealed from it by an intervening spur of the hill. Beyond the camp Balaam’s eye would pass on to the bed of the Jordan. It was perhaps a lion coming up in his strength from the swelling of that stream (compare Jer 49:19) that furnished him with the augury he awaited, and so dictated the final similitude of his next parable.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

13 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וַיִּקָּחֵ֙הוּ֙	vai.yi.ka.Che.hu	and he took him	H3947 →
שְׂדֵ֣ה	se.Deh	[the] field of	H7704 →
צֹפִ֔ים	tzo.Fim	Zophim	H6839 →
אֶל־	'el-	to	H413 →
רֹ֖אשׁ	rosh	[the] top of	H7218 →
הַפִּסְגָּ֑ה	ha.pis.Gah	<the> Pisgah	H6449 →
וַיִּ֙בֶן֙	vai.Yi.ven	and he built	H1129 →
שִׁבְעָ֣ה	shiv.'Ah	seven	H7651 →
מִזְבְּחֹ֔ת	miz.be.Chot	altars	H4196 →
וַיַּ֛עַל	vai.Ya.'al	and he offered up	H5927 →
פָּ֥ר	par	a young bull	H6499 →
וָאַ֖יִל	va.'A.yil	and a ram	H352 →
בַּמִּזְבֵּֽחַ׃	ba.miz.Be.ach	on the altar	H4196 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Deuteronomy 3:27
Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west and north and south and east. See the land with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.
leads to
- Numbers 27:12
  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim range and see the land that I have given the Israelites.
- Deuteronomy 34:1–4
  Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which faces Jericho. And the LORD showed him the whole land—from Gilead as far as Dan,
Through
Hosea 12:11
Is there iniquity in Gilead? They will surely come to nothing. Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Indeed, their altars will be heaps of stones in the furrows of the field.
leads to
- Hosea 4:15
  Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel, may Judah avoid such guilt! Do not journey to Gilgal, do not go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear on oath, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!’
- Hosea 6:8
  Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with footprints of blood.
- Hosea 8:11
  Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning.
- Hosea 9:15
  All their evil appears at Gilgal, for there I hated them. I will drive them from My house for the wickedness of their deeds. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are…
- Hosea 10:1
  Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding fruit for himself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better he made the sacred pillars.
Through
Isaiah 46:6
They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.
leads to
- Acts 17:29
  Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.