Numbers 24:7

7 Water will flow from their buckets; their seed will have abundant water. “Their king will be greater than Agag; their kingdom will be exalted.

Numbers 24:7 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
7 He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.
English Standard Version (ESV)
7 Water shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters; his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.
New Living Translation (NLT)
7 Water will flow from their buckets; their offspring have all they need. Their king will be greater than Agag; their kingdom will be exalted.
The Message Bible (MSG)
7 Their buckets will brim with water, their seed will spread life everywhere. Their king will tower over Agag and his ilk, their kingdom surpassingly majestic.
American Standard Version (ASV)
7 Water shall flow from his buckets, And his seed shall be in many waters, And his king shall be higher than Agag, And his kingdom shall be exalted.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
7 Water will flow from their buckets, and their crops will have plenty of water. Their king will be greater than Agag, and their kingdom will be considered the best.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
7 Water will flow from his buckets, and his seed will be by abundant water. His king will be greater than Agag, and his kingdom will be exalted.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
7 Their water buckets will run over. Their seeds will have plenty of water. "Their king will be greater than King Agag. Their kingdom will be honored.

Numbers 24:7 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 24:7

He shall pour the water out of his buckets
That is, God shall plentifully send down rain out of the clouds upon these valleys, gardens, and trees, and make them fruitful; and this may be a figure of the grace of God, with which his churches are watered, and become fruitful by means of the word and ordinances, which is conveyed through them out of the fulness which is in Christ:

and his seed [shall be] in many waters;
the seed and offspring of Israel shall be in a place of many waters, in a land of brooks and waters, shall dwell in a well watered land, the land of Canaan, ( Deuteronomy 8:7 ) or shall be like seed sown near water, or in well watered places, which springs up and brings forth much fruit, see ( Isaiah 32:20 ) or shall become, or be over many waters, to which people, kingdoms, and nations, are sometimes compared; and so may denote the multitude of Israel, and the large extent of their dominions, see ( Revelation 17:1 Revelation 17:15 ) :

and his king shall be higher than Agag;
who might be the then present king of Amalek, reckoned one of the greatest kings on earth; and this name, some think, was common to all the kings of Amalek, as Pharaoh to the kings of Egypt; and according to Jarchi and Aben Ezra, this is a prophecy of the first king of Israel, Saul, and of his conquering Agag king of Amalek, for there was one of this name in his time, ( 1 Samuel 15:7 1 Samuel 15:8 ) :

and his kingdom shall be exalted;
that is, the kingdom of the people of Israel, as it was more especially in the days of David and Solomon; and will be abundantly more in the days of the Messiah, when his kingdom shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth, and the kingdoms of this world shall become his, and he shall reign over all the earth; and so the Jerusalem Targum,

``and the kingdom of the King Messiah shall become very great;''

and so other Jewish writers F26 refer this prophecy to the days of the Messiah.


FOOTNOTES:

F26 Pesikta in Ketoreth Hassamim, fol. 27. 2. Vid. Philo. de Praemiis, p. 925. Sept. vers. & Targum Jon. in loc.

Numbers 24:7 In-Context

5 “How beautiful are your tents, Jacob, your dwelling places, Israel!
6 “Like valleys they spread out, like gardens beside a river, like aloes planted by the LORD, like cedars beside the waters.
7 Water will flow from their buckets; their seed will have abundant water. “Their king will be greater than Agag; their kingdom will be exalted.
8 “God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox. They devour hostile nations and break their bones in pieces; with their arrows they pierce them.
9 Like a lion they crouch and lie down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse them? “May those who bless you be blessed and those who curse you be cursed!”

Cross References 2

  • 1. S Exodus 17:8-16; 2 Samuel 15:8
  • 2. Deuteronomy 28:1; 2 Samuel 5:12; 1 Chronicles 14:2; Psalms 89:27; Psalms 145:11-13
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