Passage

Numbers 24.2

Book: Numbers · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. And when Balaam saw that it pleased Jehovah to bless Israel, he went not, as at the other times, to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness."

"2. And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him."

"3. And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor saith, And the man whose eye was closed saith; 4. He saith, who heareth the words of God, Who seeth the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, and having his eyes open:" (Numbers 24:1-4, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. When Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel, he didn’t go, as at the other times, to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness."

"2. Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came on him."

"3. He took up his parable, and said, “Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eyes are open says; 4. he says, who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open:" (Numbers 24:1-4, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness. ^{to seek: Heb. to the meeting of}"

"2. And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the spirit of God came upon him."

"3. And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: ^{whose: Heb. who had his eyes shut, but now opened} 4. He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:" (Numbers 24:1-4, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. And Balaam seeth that [it is] good in the eyes of Jehovah to bless Israel, and he hath not gone as time by time to meet enchantments, and he setteth towards the wilderness his face;"

"2. and Balaam lifteth up his eyes, and seeth Israel tabernacling, by its tribes, and the Spirit of God is upon him,"

"3. and he taketh up his simile, and saith: 'An affirmation of Balaam son of Beor, And an affirmation of the man whose eyes are shut, 4. An affirmation of him who is hearing sayings of God, Who a vision of the Almighty seeth, Falling, and eyes uncovered:" (Numbers 24:1-4, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

H7307 - ruach

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.