Numbers 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.”

Ex 17:8,16; Ex 17:14; Jud 6:3; 1Sa 14:48; 1Sa 15:3-8; 1Sa 15:3,8; 1Sa 27:8,9; 1Sa 30:1,17; 1Ch 4:43; Es 3:1; Es 7:9,10; Es 9:14

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “and he lifted up his oracle and said.” So also in vv. 21, 23.

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.