New Living Translation
Numbers 24:23
23Balaam concluded his messages by saying: “Alas, who can survive unless God has willed it?
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 he looked over toward the Kenites and delivered this message: “Your home is secure; your nest is set in the rocks. 22But the Kenites will be destroyed when Assyria takes you captive.” Balaam concluded his messages by saying: “Alas, who can survive unless God has willed it? 24Ships will come from the coasts of Cyprus; they will oppress Assyria and afflict Eber, but they, too, will be utterly destroyed.” 25Then Balaam left and returned home, and Balak also went on his 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 descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.
- Isaiah 23:1This message came to me concerning Tyre: Wail, you trading ships of Tarshish, for the harbor and houses of Tyre are gone! The rumors you heard in Cyprus are all true.
- Daniel 7:19Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, the one so different from the others and so terrifying. It had devoured and crushed its victims with iron teeth and bronze claws, trampling their remains beneath its feet.
- Daniel 8:5While I was watching, suddenly a male goat appeared from the west, crossing the land so swiftly that he didn’t even touch the ground. This goat, which had one very large horn between its eyes,
- Daniel 10:20He replied, “Do you know why I have come? Soon I must return to fight against the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia, and after that the spirit prince of the kingdom of Greece will come.
- Daniel 11:30For warships from western coastlands will scare him off, and he will withdraw and return home. But he will vent his anger against the people of the holy covenant and reward those who forsake the covenant.
- Genesis 10:21Sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth. Shem was the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber.
- Genesis 14:13But one of Lot’s men escaped and reported everything to Abram the Hebrew, who was living near the oak grove belonging to Mamre the Amorite. Mamre and his relatives, Eshcol and Aner, were Abram’s allies.
- Daniel 9:26“After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end.
- Matthew 24:15“The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about—the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing in the Holy Place.” (Reader, pay attention!)
- Luke 20:24“Show me a Roman coin. Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied.
- Luke 23:29For the days are coming when they will say, ‘Fortunate indeed are the women who are childless, the wombs that have not borne a child and the breasts that have never nursed.’
- John 11:48If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”
- Daniel 2:35The whole statue was crushed into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. Then the wind blew them away without a trace, like chaff on a threshing floor. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth.
- Daniel 7:23Then he said to me, “This fourth beast is the fourth world power that will rule the earth. It will be different from all the others. It will devour the whole world, trampling and crushing everything in its path.
- Daniel 11:45He will stop between the glorious holy mountain and the sea and will pitch his royal tents. But while he is there, his time will suddenly run out, 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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