And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
Parallel translations
- WEB He took up his parable, and said, “Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eyes are open says;
- BSB Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying, “This is the prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of a man whose eyes are open,
- NKJV So he took up his oracle and said: “The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, And the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened;
- NASB Then he took up his discourse and said, “The declaration of Balaam the son of Beor, And the declaration of the man whose eye is opened,
- NLT This is the message Balaam delivered: “This is the message of Balaam son of Beor, the message of the man whose eyes see clearly,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Balaam again opens his oracle, identifying himself as the man whose eyes are opened. He repeats the formula introducing inspired prophecy.
Overview
The renewed introduction parallels the earlier oracle, marking this as another God-given vision. By restating his role as a seer with opened eyes, Balaam frames the coming words as authoritative revelation. The repetition heightens the solemnity of the messianic prophecy that follows.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Num 24:3–4And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
- Num 23:7And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.
- Job 27:1Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
- Num 23:18And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:
- Matt 13:35That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 24:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.