Bilangan 24:20

Balaam’s Final Prophecies

24:20 Then Balaam ¹  looked on Amalek and delivered this oracle: ² 

“Amalek was the first ³  of the nations,

but his end will be that he will perish.”

Bilangan 27:16

27:16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all humankind, ⁴  appoint ⁵  a man over the community,

[24:20]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:20]  ² tn Heb “and he lifted up his oracle and said.” So also in vv. 21, 23.

[24:20]  ³ sn This probably means that it held first place, or it thought that it was “the first of the nations.” It was not the first, either in order or greatness.

[27:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “flesh”; cf. NAB, NIV “all mankind”; NCV “all people”; NLT “all living things.”

[27:16]  ⁵ tn This is the same verb פָּקַד (paqad) that is used throughout the book for the aspect of “numbering” the people.