Passage

Numbers 24.4

Book: Numbers · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"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:"

"5. How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, Thy tabernacles, O Israel! 6. As valleys are they spread forth, As gardens by the river-side, As lign-aloes which Jehovah hath planted, As cedar-trees beside the waters." (Numbers 24:2-6, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"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:"

"5. How goodly are your tents, Jacob, and your tents, Israel! 6. As valleys they are spread out, as gardens by the riverside, as aloes which Yahweh has planted, as cedar trees beside the waters." (Numbers 24:2-6, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"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:"

"5. How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! 6. As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters." (Numbers 24:2-6, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"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:"

"5. How good have been thy tents, O Jacob, Thy tabernacles, O Israel; 6. As valleys they have been stretched out, As gardens by a river; As aloes Jehovah hath planted, As cedars by waters;" (Numbers 24:2-6, 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
TBD

Quoted in

H7706 - shaddai

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.