EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Numbers 24:23
23Then Balaam spoke this message: ‘It is very bad for you! Nobody can live when God does these things!
Numbers 24:23 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this!
- New International Version (NIV)Then he spoke his message: “Alas! Who can live when God does this?
- English Standard Version (ESV)And he took up his discourse and said, "Alas, who shall live when God does this?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Then he took up his oracle and said: “Alas! Who shall live when God does this?
Context of Numbers 24:23
21Then Balaam saw the Kenites. He spoke this message: ‘The place where you live seems strong and safe, high up among the rocks. 22But Assyria's army will attack you. They will take you away as prisoners.’ Then Balaam spoke this message: ‘It is very bad for you! Nobody can live when God does these things! 24Ships will come from the coast of Cyprus island. Their soldiers will attack Assyria and Eber. Then God will destroy them too.’ 25After he spoke those messages, Balaam returned to his home. King Balak also left that place.
Read all of Numbers 24Numbers 24:23 word by word
וַיִּשָּׂ֥א מְשָׁל֖וֹ וַיֹּאמַ֑ר א֕וֹי מִ֥י יִחְיֶ֖ה מִשֻּׂמ֥וֹ אֵֽל׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Numbers 24:23
- Genesis 10:4These are the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim people and the Rodanim people.
- Isaiah 23:1This is a message about Tyre. Weep aloud, you people in the great ships of Tarshish. An enemy has destroyed the port and the houses of Tyre. They heard this news in Cyprus.
- Daniel 7:19Then I wanted to know about the fourth animal. It was different from all the other animals. It was a terrible animal that made me very afraid. It had large iron teeth and feet with sharp bronze claws. It ate things and it broke them into pieces. It used its feet to stamp on everything else.
- Daniel 8:5While I was thinking about this, I saw a male goat that was coming from the west. It ran quickly across the earth. Its feet did not even touch the ground. The goat had a large horn between its eyes.
- Daniel 10:20Then the angel said to me, ‘I will tell you why I have come to you. I will explain to you what the words in the book of God's truth mean. But now I must return to fight a battle against the ruler of Persia. After I have won that battle, the ruler of Greece will appear. Only Michael will help me. He is the angel who keeps your own people safe. Nobody else will be there to help me fight against God's enemies.
- Daniel 11:30People will come in ships from the west to attack him. He will be afraid and he will turn back. He will be angry as he travels home. So he will cause more trouble for the people who obey God's covenant. He will give honour to those people who turn away from the holy covenant.
- Genesis 10:21Shem also had sons. Shem was Japheth's older brother. All the sons of Eber are descendants of Shem.
- Genesis 14:13At that time, Abram, the Hebrew man, was living near the special oak trees of Mamre. Mamre was an Amorite. He was the brother of Eshcol and Aner. These men had agreed to be Abram's friends. A man ran away from Sodom. He told Abram everything that had happened.
- Daniel 9:26After the 62 weeks have passed, people will kill the ruler that God had chosen. He will have nothing. Then a foreign ruler and his army will attack the city and the temple. He will destroy them quickly, like a flood of water. War and terrible trouble will continue until the end that God has decided.
- Matthew 24:15Long ago, God's prophet Daniel wrote in the Bible about something that would happen. He said that one day people would put a disgusting thing that causes trouble in the temple. You will see it in the holy place. (When you read this, you must understand what it means.)
- Luke 20:24So he said to them, ‘Show me a coin. Tell me, whose picture is on this coin? Whose name is on it?’
- Luke 23:29Listen! Days will come when people will say, “It is better for those women that could not have babies. Those women that never had babies to feed are the happy ones!”
- John 11:48If we let him do more things like this, everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman rulers will come and punish us. Their soldiers will destroy our temple and even destroy our whole country of Israel.’
- Daniel 2:35Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold all broke into pieces. They became like chaff that the wind blows away. Nobody could see any of those pieces any more. But the stone that had hit the statue became a large mountain. It filled the whole earth.’
- Daniel 7:23The person that I had asked told me this: “The fourth animal shows that there will be a fourth kingdom on the earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms. It will use its power to destroy the whole earth. It will stamp on everything and break them into pieces.
- Daniel 11:45He will put up his royal tents between the seas, at the holy mountain. But he will die there and nobody will help him.’
Commentaries on Numbers 24:23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23Who shall live when God doeth this! - There are two senses in which these words may be taken: - That the event is so distant that none then alive could possibly live to see it. That the times would be so distressing and desolating that scarcely any should be able to escape. The words are very similar to those of our Lord, and probably are to be taken in the same sense: "Wo to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days."Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 23When God doeth this - The eventual carrying away of the allies of Israel by Assyria presented itself to Balaam as the ruin of all peace and safety upon earth. One prediction was howerer, yet wanting, and is next given, namely, that the conquerors of the Kenites should fare no better than the Kenites themselves.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 15-25Verses 15-25 Under the powerful influence of the Spirit of prophecy, Balaam foretold the future prosperity and extensive dominion of Israel. Balaam boasts that his eyes are open. The prophets were in old times called seers. He had heard the words of God, which many do who neither heed them, nor hear God in them. He knew the knowledge of the Most High. A man may be full of the knowledge of God, yet utterly destitute of the grace of God. He calls God the…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23This verse is similar to 22:12 and summarizes the lesson of the entire event.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2323. who shall live when God doeth this!--Few shall escape the desolation that shall send a Nebuchadnezzar to scourge all those regions.Read the comment
Topics related to Numbers 24:23
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Numbers 24
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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