Numbers 23:28

Summary

Balak takes Balaam to the top of Peor, a location described as overlooking the yeshimon ("desolate place" / wasteland). The verse narrates a change of location within the Balaam narrative, using a construct chain to specify the exact vantage point.

Key words

• yiqqach ("he took", H3947G) — qal verb in narrative form (vav-consecutive), marking the next event in the story sequence; Balak is the subject performing the action.
• rosh ("top of", H7218I) — masculine singular noun in construct state, meaning it is grammatically bound to the following word (ha-Pe'or), producing "top of Peor" rather than two separate nouns.
• nishqaf ("looks down", H8259) — niphal participle, a passive/reflexive verbal form functioning as an adjective describing Peor: "the one that overlooks" or "the one being seen from." The niphal stem gives it a middle-voice nuance not always visible in translation.
• penei ("face of", H6440J) — masculine plural noun in construct state, part of the idiom al-penei ("over the face of"), a common Hebrew way of expressing "facing" or "overlooking."
• ha-yeshimon ("the desolate place", H3452H) — noun with definite article; refers to a specific arid region, here marked as a defined location ("the wasteland/Jeshimon") rather than a general term for any desert.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative verb va-yiqqach ("and he took"), placing Balak as agent and Balaam as the marked direct object (et-Bil'am, H0853 signaling the object without adding meaning itself). The destination is given through a chain of construct nouns: rosh ha-Pe'or ("top of the Peor") identifies the specific high point of the place called Peor. This phrase is then modified by a relative clause built on the niphal participle ha-nishqaf ("the one that looks down/overlooks"), which functions adjectivally, describing Peor's position relative to what follows. The final element, al-penei ha-yeshimon ("over the face of the yeshimon"), uses the construct idiom penei ("face of") to express spatial orientation — Peor overlooks or faces the yeshimon, a defined desolate area.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders rosh ha-Pe'or as "verticem montis Phogor" ("the top of Mount Phogor"), inserting the word "montis" ("mountain") which has no corresponding lexeme in the Hebrew text. The LXX renders ha-yeshimon as "τὴν ἔρημον" ("the desert"), a general term, while the Vulgate uses "solitudinem" ("solitude/wasteland"); both differ from the Hebrew, where ha-yeshimon carries the definite article, suggesting a specifically named or defined location rather than a generic desert. The LXX's participle "παρατεῖνον" ("extending/stretching toward") also renders the niphal nishqaf differently, emphasizing extension rather than the Hebrew's sense of "looking down" or "being seen."