Numbers 22:5

22:5 And he sent messengers to Balaam ¹  son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates River ²  in the land of Amaw, ³  to summon him, saying, “Look, a nation has come out of Egypt. They cover the face ⁴  of the earth, and they are settling next to me.

Genesis 10:22

10:22 The sons of Shem were Elam, ⁵  Asshur, ⁶  Arphaxad, ⁷  Lud, ⁸  and Aram. ⁹ 

Genesis 28:2

28:2 Leave immediately ¹⁰  for Paddan Aram! Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and find yourself a wife there, among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

Genesis 28:7

28:7 Jacob obeyed his father and mother and left for Paddan Aram.

Deuteronomy 23:4

23:4 for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired ¹¹  Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you.

¹ sn There is much literature on pagan diviners and especially prophecy in places in the east like Mari (see, for example, H. B. Huffmon, “Prophecy in the Mari Letters,” BA 31 [1968]: 101-24). Balaam appears to be a pagan diviner who was of some reputation; he was called to curse the Israelites, but God intervened and gave him blessings only. The passage forms a nice complement to texts that deal with blessings and curses. It shows that no one can curse someone whom God has blessed.

² tn Heb “by the river”; in most contexts this expression refers to the Euphrates River (cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

³ tn Heb “in the land of Amaw” (cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV); traditionally “in the land of the sons of his people.” The LXX has “by the river of the land.”

⁴ tn Heb “eye.” So also in v. 11.

⁵ sn The Hebrew name Elam (עֵילָם, ’elam) means “highland.” The Elamites were a non-Semitic people who lived east of Babylon.

⁶ sn Asshur is the name for the Assyrians. Asshur was the region in which Nimrod expanded his power (see v. 11, where the name is also mentioned). When names appear in both sections of a genealogical list, it probably means that there were both Hamites and Shemites living in that region in antiquity, especially if the name is a place name.

⁷ sn The descendants of Arphaxad may have lived northeast of Nineveh.

⁸ sn Lud may have been the ancestor of the Ludbu, who lived near the Tigris River.

⁹ sn Aram became the collective name of the northern tribes living in the steppes of Mesopotamia and speaking Aramaic dialects.

¹⁰ tn Heb “Arise! Go!” The first of the two imperatives is adverbial and stresses the immediacy of the departure.

¹¹ tn Heb “hired against you.”