New International Version
Numbers 24:23
23Then he spoke his message: “Alas! Who can live when God does this?
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!
- 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?
- New Living Translation (NLT)Balaam concluded his messages by saying: “Alas, who can survive unless God has willed it?
Context of Numbers 24:23
21Then he saw the Kenites and spoke his message: “Your dwelling place is secure, your nest is set in a rock; 22yet you Kenites will be destroyed when Ashur takes you captive.” Then he spoke his message: “Alas! Who can live when God does this? 24Ships will come from the shores of Cyprus; they will subdue Ashur and Eber, but they too will come to ruin.” 25Then Balaam got up and returned home, and Balak went his own way.
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 10:4The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites.
- Isaiah 23:1A prophecy against Tyre: Wail, you ships of Tarshish! For Tyre is destroyed and left without house or harbor. From the land of Cyprus word has come to them.
- Daniel 7:19“Then I wanted to know the meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws—the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left.
- Daniel 8:5As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between its eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground.
- Daniel 10:20So he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come;
- Daniel 11:30Ships of the western coastlands will oppose him, and he will lose heart. Then he will turn back and vent his fury against the holy covenant. He will return and show favor to those who forsake the holy covenant.
- Genesis 10:21Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.
- Genesis 14:13A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshkol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram.
- Daniel 9:26After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
- Matthew 24:15“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—
- Luke 20:24“Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied.
- Luke 23:29For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’
- John 11:48If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”
- Daniel 2:35Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
- Daniel 7:23“He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it.
- Daniel 11:45He will pitch his royal tents between the seas at the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end, and no one 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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