Numbers 23:30
in Numbers 23So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.
KJV
And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.
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This verse in Numbers 23
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
I will take you to another place
on Numbers 23:27-30
The third station is the top of Peor, and the name carries the rest of the book. Numbers 25:3 records that Israel joined in worshiping Baal of Peor, and 31:16 says the counsel was Balaam's. He stands where his advice will do what his oracles cannot.
This site's exposition
he offered a bull and a ram
Verse 2 said Balak and Balaam offered together, and here only Balak is named. John Gill notes that he spared no cost, though he could now have little hope. John Calvin, on Balak's first compliance, says the superstitious spare no expense for the masters of their errors.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
And Balak did as Balaam had said,.... Though the sacrifices were expensive, he did not grudge them; he spared no cost to gain his point, though he now could have but little hope of it: and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar; as he had done before, Num 23:2.
Thus he covers his malice against Israel with a show of devotion, but his sacrifice was an abomination, being brought with such a wicked mind, Prov. xxi. That which he aimed at was not to honour God with the sacrifices of righteousness, but to enrich himself with the wages of unrighteousness. How very obsequious Balak was.
Thus do they persevere in their expensive oblations, though they had no promise on which to build their hopes of speeding. Let not us therefore, who have a promise that the vision at the end shall speak and not lie, be discouraged by delays, but continue instant in prayer, and not faint, Luke xviii.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּ֣עַשׂ | vaiyaas | and he did | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| בָּלָ֔ק | balak | Balak | H1111 → | 43 times |
| כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר | kaasher | just as | H834 → | 5497 times |
| אָמַ֣ר | ʾamar | he had said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| בִּלְעָ֑ם | bilam | Balaam | H1109 → | 61 times |
| וַיַּ֛עַל | vaiyaal | and he offered up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| פָּ֥ר | par | a young bull | H6499 → | 132 times |
| וָאַ֖יִל | vaayil | and a ram | H352 → | 187 times |
| בַּמִּזְבֵּֽחַ׃ | bamizbeach | on the altar | H4196 → | 401 times |
וַיַּ֣עַשׂand he did
vaiyaasH6213 →2628 times
בָּלָ֔קBalak
balakH1111 →43 times
כַּאֲשֶׁ֖רjust as
kaasherH834 →5497 times
אָמַ֣רhe had said
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
בִּלְעָ֑םBalaam
bilamH1109 →61 times
וַיַּ֛עַלand he offered up
vaiyaalH5927 →890 times
פָּ֥רa young bull
parH6499 →132 times
וָאַ֖יִלand a ram
vaayilH352 →187 times
בַּמִּזְבֵּֽחַ׃on the altar
bamizbeachH4196 →401 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
About Numbers
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of 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.