Numbers 22:7
New International Version
The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said.

New Living Translation
Balak’s messengers, who were elders of Moab and Midian, set out with money to pay Balaam to place a curse upon Israel. They went to Balaam and delivered Balak’s message to him.

English Standard Version
So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand. And they came to Balaam and gave him Balak’s message.

Berean Standard Bible
The elders of Moab and Midian departed with the fees for divination in hand. They came to Balaam and relayed to him the words of Balak.

King James Bible
And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak.

New King James Version
So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the diviner’s fee in their hand, and they came to Balaam and spoke to him the words of Balak.

New American Standard Bible
So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian left with the fees for divination in their hands; and they came to Balaam and repeated Balak’s words to him.

NASB 1995
So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam and repeated Balak’s words to him.

NASB 1977
So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam and repeated Balak’s words to him.

Legacy Standard Bible
So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian went away with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam and spoke Balak’s words to him.

Amplified Bible
So the elders of Moab and of Midian departed with fees for divination (foretelling) in hand; and they came to Balaam and told him the words of Balak.

Christian Standard Bible
The elders of Moab and Midian departed with fees for divination in hand. They came to Balaam and reported Balak’s words to him.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The elders of Moab and Midian departed with fees for divination in hand. They came to Balaam and reported Balak’s words to him.

American Standard Version
And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And the Elders of Moab and the Elders of Midian went and their divinations were in their hands and they came to Balaam and they told him the words of Balaq.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the elders of Moab went, and the elders of Madiam, and their divining instruments were in their hands; and they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balac.

Contemporary English Version
The leaders of Moab and Midian left and took along money to pay Balaam. When they got to his house, they gave him Balak's message.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the ancients of Moab, and the elders of Madian, went with the price of divination in their hands. And when they were come to Balaam, and had told him all the words of Balac:

English Revised Version
And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The leaders of Moab and Midian left, taking money with them to pay for Balaam's services. They came to Balaam and told him what Balak had said.

Good News Translation
So the Moabite and Midianite leaders took with them the payment for the curse, went to Balaam, and gave him Balak's message.

International Standard Version
So the elders of Moab and Midian left to visit Balaam, bringing an honorarium with them, and communicated Balak's concerns to him.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spoke unto him the words of Balak.

Literal Standard Version
And [the] elderly of Moab and [the] elderly of Midian go with divinations in their hand, and they come to Balaam and speak the words of Balak to him,

Majority Standard Bible
The elders of Moab and Midian departed with the fees for divination in hand. They came to Balaam and relayed to him the words of Balak.

New American Bible
So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian, themselves experts in divination, left and went to Balaam, to whom they gave Balak’s message.

NET Bible
So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fee for divination in their hand. They came to Balaam and reported to him the words of Balak.

New Revised Standard Version
So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and gave him Balak’s message.

New Heart English Bible
The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak.

World English Bible
The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand. They came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak.

Young's Literal Translation
And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian go, and divinations in their hand, and they come in unto Balaam, and speak unto him the words of Balak,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Balak Summons Balaam
6So please come now and put a curse on this people, because they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land; for I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed.” 7The elders of Moab and Midian departed with the fees for divination in hand. They came to Balaam and relayed to him the words of Balak. 8“Spend the night here,” Balaam replied, “and I will give you the answer that the LORD speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.…

Cross References
2 Peter 2:15
They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

Numbers 22:8
"Spend the night here," Balaam replied, "and I will give you the answer that the LORD speaks to me." So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

Numbers 23:23
For there is no spell against Jacob and no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and Israel, 'What great things God has done!'

Numbers 24:1
And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not resort to sorcery as on previous occasions, but he turned his face toward the wilderness.

Joshua 13:22
The Israelites also killed the diviner Balaam son of Beor along with the others they put to the sword.

Ezekiel 21:21
For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He shakes the arrows, he consults the idols, he examines the liver.


Treasury of Scripture

And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak.

rewards of divination

1 Samuel 9:7,8
Then said Saul to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we? …

Isaiah 56:11
Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

Ezekiel 13:19
And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?

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Balaam Balak Balak's Departed Divination Divinations Elders Hand Hands Message Midian Mid'ian Moab Orders Prophet Repeated Responsible Rewards Words
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Balaam Balak Balak's Departed Divination Divinations Elders Hand Hands Message Midian Mid'ian Moab Orders Prophet Repeated Responsible Rewards Words
Numbers 22
1. Balak's first message for Balaam is refused
15. His second message obtains him
22. An angel would have slain him, if he had not been saved by his donkey
36. Balak entertains him














(7) And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian.--The close alliance which existed between the two nations appears throughout the whole of the narrative.

The rewards of divination.--Literally, the divinations. Some think the meaning to be instruments of divination; but as besorah means not only tidings, but also the reward for tidings (2Samuel 4:10), so kesamim may mean not only divinations, but also the rewards of divination.

Verse 7. - With the rewards of divination. קְסָמִים, "soothsayings." Septuagint, τὰ μαντεῖα. Here the soothsayer's wages, which St. Peter aptly calls the wages of unrighteousness. The ease with which, among ignorant and superstitious people, a prophet might become a hired soothsayer is apparent even from the case of Samuel (1 Samuel 9:6-8). That it should be thought proper to resort to the man of God for information about some lost property, and much more that it should be thought necessary to pay him a fee for the exercise of his supernatural powers, shows, not indeed that Samuel was a soothsayer, for he was a man of rare integrity and independence, but, that Samuel was but little distinguished from a soothsayer in the popular estimation. If Samuel had learnt to care more for money than for righteousness, he might very easily have become just what Balaam became.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The elders
זִקְנֵ֤י (ziq·nê)
Adjective - masculine plural construct
Strong's 2205: Old

of Moab
מוֹאָב֙ (mō·w·’āḇ)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 4124: Moab -- a son of Lot,also his descendants and the territory where they settled

and Midian
מִדְיָ֔ן (miḏ·yān)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 4080: Midian -- a son of Abraham and Keturah, also his descendants and the region where they settled

departed
וַיֵּ֨לְכ֜וּ (way·yê·lə·ḵū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

with the fees for divination
וּקְסָמִ֖ים (ū·qə·sā·mîm)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 7081: A lot, divination, oracle

in hand.
בְּיָדָ֑ם (bə·yā·ḏām)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 3027: A hand

They came
וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ (way·yā·ḇō·’ū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

Balaam
בִּלְעָ֔ם (bil·‘ām)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 1109: Balaam -- a prophet

and relayed
וַיְדַבְּר֥וּ (way·ḏab·bə·rū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1696: To arrange, to speak, to subdue

to him
אֵלָ֖יו (’ê·lāw)
Preposition | third person masculine singular
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

the words
דִּבְרֵ֥י (diḇ·rê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1697: A word, a matter, thing, a cause

of Balak.
בָלָֽק׃ (ḇā·lāq)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 1111: Balak -- 'devastator', a Moabite king


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OT Law: Numbers 22:7 The elders of Moab and the elders (Nu Num.)
Numbers 22:6
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