Out of Jacob shall one have dominion, and shall destroy the remnant from the city.”
Parallel Translations
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Out of Jacob shall one have dominion, and shall destroy the remnant from the city.”
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Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.
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And out of Jacob shall one have dominion, and shall destroy the remnant from the city.
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to Numbers 24:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.
- Psalms 2:1-12 Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying, “Let’s break their bonds apart, and cast their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens will laugh. The Lord will have them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his anger, and terrify them in his wrath: “Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.” I will tell of the decree: Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore be wise, you kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.
- Micah 5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.
- Matthew 28:18 Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
- Psalms 21:7-10 For the king trusts in Yahweh. Through the loving kindness of the Most High, he shall not be moved. Your hand will find out all of your enemies. Your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them. You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from among the children of men.
- Psalms 72:10-11 The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring tribute. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yes, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him.
- Isaiah 11:10 It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the peoples; and his resting place will be glorious.
- Micah 5:4 He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.
- Matthew 25:46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
- Luke 19:27 But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.’ ”
- 1 Corinthians 15:25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
- Ephesians 1:20-22 which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly,
- Philippians 2:10-11 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
- 1 Peter 3:22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.
- Revelation 19:16 He has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
- Luke 19:12 He said therefore, “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.
- Hebrews 1:8 But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your Kingdom.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Of the Edomites.
Of the Edomites.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 24:19 Out of Jacob shall come he that…
Num 24:19 Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.
Ver. 19. And shall destroy him.] David in the history, {1Ki 11:15-16} Christ in the mystery, {Oba 1:18} even all the antichristian rout and rabble. {Rev 19:21}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Out of Jacob; out of Jacob’s loins.
Out of Jacob; out of Jacob’s loins.
He that shall have dominion; David, and especially Christ.
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Of the city, or, from or out of this city, i.e. the cities, the singular number for the plural, which hath been oft noted before. The sense is, He shall not only subdue those Moabites and Edomites which meet him in the field, but he shall pursue them even to their strongest holds and cities, and shall pull them out thence. Possibly he may note some eminent city in which they confided most, their metropolis or royal city, as may be guessed from Psa 60:9.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And when he looked on Amalek,.... The country of…
And when he looked on Amalek,.... The country of Amalek, which lay to the south of the land of Canaan, Num 13:29 and which Balaam had a view of from the mountain of Peor, where he now was:
and he took up his parable, and said; the parable of his prophecy, as the Targum of Jonathan, and pronounced it aloud:
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Amalek was the first of the nations; not the first nation in the world, nor the chief and principal for numbers, riches, or strength, but the first that made war with Israel, as all the three Targums paraphrase it, as they did, see Exo 17:8,
but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever; this was threatened to them by the Lord upon that battle, and is confirmed by this prophecy of Balaam: and after this, orders were given to Israel to blot out their remembrance, Deu 25:19, and which, in a good measure, though not completely, was done in the times of Saul, Sa1 15:8 and after that they were distressed by David, Sa1 27:9 and the rest of them were smitten by the sons of Simeon, in the days of Hezekiah, Ch1 4:41, after which we hear of them no more: Amalek may be considered as a type of antichrist, the son of perdition, who shall go into it, shall come to his end, and there shall be none to help him; which will be true of all the antichristian party, the enemies of Christ, who will be destroyed by him, and perish eternally; see Dan 11:45.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Out of Jacob - Out of Jacob's loins. He…
Out of Jacob - Out of Jacob's loins. He that shall have dominion - David, and especially Christ. Of the city - Or from or out of this city, that is, the cities, the singular number for the plural. He shall not subdue those Moabites and Edomites which meet him in the field, but he shall pursue them even to their strongest holds and cities.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 19. Out of Jacob shall come, c.] This…
Verse 19. Out of Jacob shall come, c.] This is supposed to refer to Christ, because of what is said Ge 49:10.
It is exceedingly difficult to fix the true sense of this prophecy in all its particulars. Probably the star, Nu 24:17, is only an emblem of kingly power. Among the Egyptians a star is said to have been the symbol of the Divine Being. The sceptre refers to the kingly power in exercise. The corners or outskirts may mean the petty Moabitish governments, as the Chaldee has understood the term. If karkar, which we translate utterly destroy, be not the name of a place here, as it is in Jdg 8:10, (which is not very likely), it may be taken in one of those senses assigned to it, (See Clarke on Nu 24:17,) and signify the blending together the children of Sheth, that is, all the inhabitants of the earth for so the children of Sheth must necessarily be understood, unless we consider it here as meaning some king of the Moabites, according to Grotius, or a city on the borders of Moab, according to Rabbi Nathan. As neither Israel nor the Messiah ever destroyed all the children of men, we must (in order to leave the children of Sheth what they are generally understood to be, all the inhabitants of the world) understand the whole as a prophecy of the final universal sway of the sceptre of Christ, when the middle wall of partition shall be broken down, and the Jews and Gentiles become one united, blended fold, under one shepherd and bishop of their souls.
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I cannot think that the meteoric star which guided the wise men of the east to Bethlehem can be intended here; nor do I think that Peter refers to this prophecy when he calls Christ the day star, 2Pe 1:19; nor that Re 2:28, where Christ is called the morning star, nor Re 22:16, where he is called the bright and morning star, refers at all to this prophecy of Balaam. Nor do I think that the false Christ who rose in the time of Adrian, and who called himself Barcochab, which literally signifies the son of a star, did refer to this prophecy. If he had, he must have defeated his own intention, because the SON of the star is not THE STAR that should arise, but at the utmost a descendant; and then, to vindicate his right to the Jewish throne, he must show that the person who was called the star, and of whom he pretended to be the son or descendant, had actually reigned before him. As the sun, moon, stars, planets, light, splendours, effulgence, day, c., were always considered among the Asiatics as emblems of royalty, government, c., therefore many, both men and women, had these names given to them as titles, surnames, &c. So the queen of Alexander the Great, called Roxana by the Greeks, was a Persian princess, and in her native tongue her name was [Persian] Roushen, splendour. Hadassah, who became queen to Ahasuerus, in place of the repudiated Vashti, and is called Esther by Europeans in general, was called in the language of Persia [Persian] Sitareh from whence by corruption came both Esther, the Persian queen, and our word star. And to waive all farther examples, a Mohammedan prince, at first named Eesouf or Joseph, was called [Arabic] Roushen Akhter when he was raised to the throne, which signifies a splendid or luminous star. This prince, by a joyful reverse of fortune, was brought from a gloomy prison and exalted to the throne of Hindostan on which account the following couplet was made, in which there is a paronomasia or play on the name Roushen Akhter; and the last line alludes to the history of the patriarch Joseph, who was brought out of prison and exalted to the highest honours in Egypt.
[Arabic]
[Arabic]
Roushen Akhter bood, aknoon mah shud:
Yousef az zendan ber amd shah shud.
"He was a bright star, but is now become a moon.
Joseph is brought out of prison, and is become a
glorious king."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 24:19. Out of Jacob — Out of his…
Num 24:19. Out of Jacob — Out of his loins. He that shall have dominion — David, and especially Christ. Shall destroy him that remaineth of the city — Not only defeat them in the field, but destroy them even in their strongest cities. “We see,” Bishop Newton further observes, “how exactly this prophecy hath been fulfilled in the person and actions of David; but most Jewish as well as Christian writers apply it, primarily, perhaps, to David, but ultimately to the Messiah, as the person chiefly intended, in whom it was to receive its full and entire completion. Onkelos interprets it of the Messiah. Maimonides understands it partly of David, and partly of the Messiah, and with him agree other rabbis. It appears to have been generally understood by the Jews as a prophecy of the Messiah, because the false Christ, who appeared in the reign of the Roman emperor Adrian, assumed the title of Barchochebas, or Son of the Star, in allusion to this prophecy, and in order to have it believed that he was the star that Balaam had seen afar off. The Christian fathers, I think, are unanimous in applying this prophecy to our Saviour, and to the star which appeared at his nativity. Origen, in particular, produces it as one of the plainest and clearest prophecies of the Messiah; and both he and Eusebius affirm, that it was in consequence of Balaam’s prophecies, which were known and believed in the East, that the magi, upon the appearance of a new star, came to Jerusalem to worship him who was born king of the Jews. The stream of modern divines and commentators apply the prophecy principally to our Saviour; and by Moab and Edom they understand the enemies and persecutors of the church.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Destroy him that remaineth of the city - i.…
Destroy him that remaineth of the city - i. e., shall destroy those of every city that had previously escaped. The phrase tersely describes a conqueror who first defeats his enemies in battle, and then hunts out the fugitives until he has cut off all of every place (compare 1Ki 11:16).
The victories of David were a partial accomplishment of the predictions Num 24:14, Num 24:18, but did not exhaust them.
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It is apparent that Edom and Moab are named by Balaam, as they are also by the prophets (compare e. g., Isa 11:14), as representatives of the pagan nations Num 24:8 who were hostile to the theocracy. As Jacob therefore figures as a constant type of the kingdom of Messiah in the prophets, so do Edom and Joab of the enemies of that kingdom; and in the threatened ruin of Edom and Moab is indicated the eventual destruction of all that resist the kingdom of God in its power.
The “Star” and “Sceptre” of the prophecy, like the “Sceptre” and “Lawgiver” of Gen 49:10, point also naturally to a line of princes rather than to an individual; or rather are emblems of the kingdom of Israel generally. Thus, the victories of David and his successors, generation after generation, over Edom and Moab, are unquestionably recurring and progressive accomplishments of what Balaam foretold; but in addition the prophecy reaches forward to some further and culminating accomplishment; and that too in “the latter days” Num 24:14, the ordinary prophetic designation for the time of the Messiah (compare the marginal references).
To a Christian the connection between the Star and Seeptre of Balaam and the Star of the king of the Jews, which the wise men saw Mat 2:2, is self-evident.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain City of this world. Jesus will destroy their evil…
City of this world. Jesus will destroy their evil habits, (Origen, hom. 18,) and will select some whose lives had been hitherto scandalous, to be his intimate friends. (Haydock) --- He will save those who abandoned paganism, which had fixed its seat at the great city of Rome, (Calmet) and he will raise up Constantine (Menochius; Tirinus) to rule over Jacob, his people. At his second coming, he will exterminate all who shall have refused to acknowledge his sovereignty, and who have remained out of the city of the Church. (Haydock) --- Those who have fled out of the cities for safety, shall be sought out by David, and destroyed. He slew all the male children of Edom, 3 Kings xv. 15. (Calmet) --- In this prophecy, some particulars relate to him, as that he hall subject Moab and Idumea by the valour of his troops, while other things can belong only to Christ, the star, who shall destroy the remains of the city. (Menochius) --- By changing one letter, Calmet would translate, "Princes shall spring from Jacob: but Seir shall perish from his cities." A long train of princes in Jacob prefigured the Messias, while the Idumeans have been unknown for many ages. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have…
Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion--David, and particularly Christ.
that remaineth of the city--those who flee from the field to fortified places (Psa 60:9).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 19. He that shall have dominion — The same…
19. He that shall have dominion — The same ruler as is symbolized by the Star and Sceptre. Num_24:17, note.
Him that remaineth — Thus producing the utter destruction of the people.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 19. An obscure verse, which is perhaps a later…
19. An obscure verse, which is perhaps a later addition to the song. It appears to look forward to a Messianic prospect of universal dominion. Some think that Num_24:18-19 are both entirely corrupt beyond restoration.
shall one have dominion] This and the following verb are impersonal. ‘And dominion will be exercised out of Jacob, and the remnant (of Israel’s enemies) will be destroyed out of the city.’ If the text is right, ‘out of the city’ is parallel with ‘out of Jacob.’ It is therefore the city of the conquerors, i.e. Zion.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (19) He that shall have dominion.—The reference is explained…
(19) He that shall have dominion.—The reference is explained in Psa_72:8, “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth,” where the same verb occurs which is in both places rendered in the Authorised Version “shall have dominion.”
And shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.—Or, and He shall destroy the remnant from the cities. The city, which is in the singular number here as in Psa_72:16, may be used collectively to denote cities generally, though some have understood the reference to be to the city of Jerusalem. But the reference seems to be rather to the chief city, or the cities generally, of Edom. (Comp. Obad., Num_24:18, where the same word occurs which is here rendered “him that remaineth,” and which is there rendered “any remaining.”)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Shall come he that shall have dominion. Dryiw Literally,…
Shall come he that shall have dominion. Dryiw Literally, "one shall rule," the subject being indefinite. Of the city ryime; not apparently out of any city in particular, but "out of any hostile city." The expression implies not only conquest, but total destruction of the foe.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.