Numbers 23:14

Summary

The verse narrates Balak taking Balaam to a place called "the field of Zophim," at the top of Pisgah, where Balaam built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on the altar. The action follows a chain of three narrative verbs describing successive steps: taking, building, and offering.

Key words

• vayyikkachehu ("and he took him", H3947G) — qal narrative verb with 3ms subject and 3ms object suffix hu ("him"); the subject is not named in this clause, so "he" must be identified from context (Balak, per the surrounding narrative).
• sedeh ("field of", H7704G) — masculine singular construct noun, linking to Tzofim to form the place-name "field of Zophim."
• Tzofim ("Zophim", H6839) — grammatically a qal participle plural ("the ones watching/seers"), functioning here as part of a proper toponym.
• rosh ("top of", H7218I) — masculine singular construct noun, forming "top of the Pisgah" with the following definite noun.
• vayya'al ("and he offered up", H5927I) — hiphil (causative) narrative verb: literally "he caused to go up," describing the act of sending the offering up onto the altar.

What the text says

The verse is built on three sequential narrative verbs joined by the vav-narrative construction (vayyikkachehu, vayyiven, vayya'al), each meaning "and then he did X." This chain structure marks a tight sequence of ritual actions: taking to a location, building altars, and offering animals. The subject of all three verbs is grammatically only "he" (3ms), with no explicit noun in the Hebrew clause; the referent (Balak) must be supplied from the wider narrative context.

The place name combines two construct phrases: sedeh Tzofim ("field of Zophim") and rosh ha-Pisgah ("top of the Pisgah"). Notably, Tzofim is morphologically a participle ("watchers" or "seers"), though it functions here as a proper name. The final clause uses the hiphil verb vayya'al, a causative form literally meaning "he caused to go up," describing the offering placed on the altar (mizbeach, H4196) — the same noun that earlier appeared in the plural mizbechot ("altars") for the seven structures built.

Differences between versions

The LXX does not treat Tzofim as a proper name but translates it descriptively as σκοπιάν ("a watch-post" or "lookout"), reflecting the word's participial sense ("watchers/seers", H6839) rather than treating it as a toponym. Similarly, "Pisgah" is rendered as Λελαξευμένου ("the hewn/carved place"), a descriptive translation rather than a transliterated place-name. The Vulgate omits any equivalent for "field of Zophim" altogether, giving only "locum sublimem" ("a high place"), and explicitly names "Balaam" as the subject of the building action, where the Hebrew text leaves the subject grammatically unspecified within the verse itself.