Numbers 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.”

Numbers 13:29

13:29 The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks ⁴  of the Jordan.” ⁵ 

[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.

[13:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “by the side [hand] of.”

[13:29]  ⁵ sn For more discussion on these people groups, see D. J. Wiseman, ed., Peoples of Old Testament Times.