Bible Strands
Numbers 24:8
God brought him out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox, to devour hostile nations and crush their bones, to pierce them with arrows.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Balaam addresses Balak, delivering a prophetic oracle concerning a future ruler who will secure Israel’s dominance over surrounding nations.
The words — רְאֵם (re.'Em) denotes a wild ox, and יֹאכַל (yo.Khal) means it will consume, describing the ruler’s violent subjugation of enemies.
The thread — The motif of divine deliverance from Egypt with wild ox strength recurs in Numbers 23:22, while the imagery of piercing foes with arrows appears in Psalms 45:5. The theme of hostile nations being consumed like bread echoes Numbers 14:9.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that military victory and national survival depend entirely on divine intervention rather than human strategy.
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
God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.
Cross-references
- Psalms 45:5 Your arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s foes; the nations fall beneath your feet.
- Numbers 14:9 Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them!”
- Numbers 23:22 God brought them out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox.
- Numbers 23:24 Behold, the people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion, not resting until they devour their prey and drink the blood of the slain.”
- Psalms 2:9 You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery.”
- Jeremiah 50:17 Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”
- Isaiah 38:13 I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.
- Jeremiah 50:9 For behold, I stir up and bring against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the land of the north. They will line up against her; from the north she will be captured. Their arrows will be like skilled warriors who do not return empty-handed.
- Numbers 21:5 and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”
- Deuteronomy 7:1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—