Numbers 24:20

Balaam’s Final Prophecies

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

“Amalek was the first of the nations,

but his end will be that he will perish.”


tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tn Heb “and he lifted up his oracle and said.” So also in vv. 21, 23.

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.