Bible Strands
Numbers 21:20
and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Israel’s travel route as the caravan moves from Bamoth toward the Moabite border. This geographical note falls between the listing of wilderness encampments and Israel’s diplomatic message to King Sihon.
The words — הַ/גַּיְא֙ (ha./gaY') translates literally as "the valley," and רֹ֖אשׁ (rosh) means "the top" or "head." These terms locate the route at a specific elevation that surveys the surrounding plain.
The thread — The motif of a high place overlooking the wasteland reappears in Numbers 23:28 at Peor and Numbers 23:14 at Pisgah. These passages track Balaam’s movements to elevated positions in Moab to observe the Israelite camp.
Why it lands — The verse establishes a concrete boundary that Israel must cross before entering Amorite territory. It requires the reader to track the physical progression of the journey and recognize that territorial access precedes political negotiation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And from Bamoth in the valley, that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshimon.
Cross-references
- Numbers 23:28 And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.
- Numbers 22:1 Then the Israelites traveled on and camped in the plains of Moab near the Jordan, across from Jericho.
- Numbers 23:14 So Balak took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
- Numbers 26:63 These were the ones numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest when they counted the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho.
- Numbers 33:49 And there on the plains of Moab they camped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth to Abel-shittim.
- Deuteronomy 1:5 On the east side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying:
- Deuteronomy 3:27 Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west and north and south and east. See the land with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.
- Deuteronomy 4:49 including all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan and as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the slopes of Pisgah.
- Deuteronomy 34:1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which faces Jericho. And the LORD showed him the whole land—from Gilead as far as Dan,