Numbers 23:4
2 So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
3 “Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone,” Balaam said to Balak. “Perhaps the LORD will meet with me. And whatever He reveals to me, I will tell you.” So Balaam went off to a barren height,
and God met with him. “I have set up seven altars,” Balaam said, “and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”
5 Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and give him this message.”
6 So he returned to Balak, who was standing there beside his burnt offering, with all the princes of Moab.
Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- and God met with him. “I have set up seven altars,” Balaam said, “and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”
- KJV
- And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram.
- WEB
- God met Balaam, and he said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.”
- ASV
- And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.
- DARBY
- And God met Balaam; and [Balaam] said to him, I have disposed seven altars, and have offered up a bullock and a ram upon [each] altar.
- BLB
- And God met with Balaam, and he said to Him, “Seven altars I have prepared, and I have offered a bull and a ram on each altar.”
- ÅB
- Der kom Gud Bileam i møte, og Bileam sa til ham: Nå har jeg stelt til syv alter og ofret en okse og en vær på hvert alter.
- OTB
- Gud møtte Bileam, og Bileam sa: «Jeg har reist sju altere og ofret en okse og en vær på hvert.»
- B1930
- Der kom Gud Bileam i møte, og Bileam sa til ham: Nu har jeg stelt til syv alter og ofret en okse og en vær på hvert alter.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Numbers 23:16
And the LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak what I tell you.”
Read in contextLuke 18:12
I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’
Read in contextEphesians 2:9
not by works, so that no one can boast.
Read in contextNumbers 22:20
That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, get up and go with them, but you must only do what I tell you.”
Read in contextRomans 3:27
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith.
Read in contextNumbers 23:1
Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”
Read in contextNumbers 22:9
Then God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?”
Read in contextIsaiah 58:3–4
“Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers.
Read in context