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Passage Research

Numbers 23 — Sermon Preparation

Below is a research summary for Numbers 23, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.

30
verses
389 / 134
Hebrew words / lemmas
9
classic sermon excerpts
5
preachers & commentators

Numbers 23 in the Hebrew

Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.

Hebrew Transliteration Strong's Count Glosses
בָּלָק Bâlâq H1111 18 Balak
בִּלְעָם Bilʻâm H1109 14 Bilam
מִזְבֵּחַ mizbêach H4196 8 altar
שֶׁבַע shebaʻ H7651 8 seven, full
קָבַב qâbab H6895 5 scoop, malign
פַּר par H6499 6 bullock, breaking
אַיִל ʼayil H352 6 strength, strong

How preachers through history handled this text

9 public-domain excerpts on Numbers 23, from the church fathers to the Puritans.

Matthew Henry 3 John Wesley 3 Calvin 1 Alexander MacLaren 1 Spurgeon 1

“Balak was angry with Balaam. Thus a confession of God's overruling power is extorted from a wicked prophet, to the confusion of a wicked prince. A second time the curse is turned into a blessing; and this blessing is both larger and stronger than the former. Men change their minds, and break their words; but God never changes his mind, and therefore never recalls his promise. And when in Scripture he is said to repent, it does not mean any change of his mind; but only a change of his way. There was sin in Jacob, and God saw it; …”

— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), on Numbers 23:11–30 (Public Domain)

Places in the text

Based on ancient-geography data

  • Pisgah — Num 23:14
  • Zophim — Num 23:14
  • Moab 1 — Num 23:17
  • Egypt — Num 23:22
  • Jeshimon — Num 23:28
  • Peor — Num 23:28

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Greek exegesis, historical background, current scholarship, sermon outlines, illustrations — a complete PDF report on Numbers 23, delivered in 45 minutes.