Numbers 24:17

Summary

The verse describes a vision seen from a distance in time ("not now," "not near") in which a kokhav ("star", H3556) and a shevet ("scepter", H7626) emerge from Jacob and Israel, followed by military action against Moab and against "the sons of Sheth" (benei-shet, H1121+H8352). The syntax moves from first-person visionary verbs to a chain of third-person perfect verbs describing the coming figure's actions.

Key words

• 'er'ennu ("I see him", H7200) — qal imperfect, 1st person, with pronominal suffix "him" (H9033); the imperfect aspect allows an ongoing or future sense, framing the utterance as a vision not yet fulfilled.
• kokhav ("a star", H3556) — masculine singular noun, subject of the perfect verb darakh ("it will march forth", H1869); the perfect form is used here of a future event, a common feature in poetic oracles.
• shevet ("a scepter", H7626) — masculine singular noun, subject of the sequential perfect qam ("it will arise", H6965B), continuing the same clause structure as the star.
• qarqar ("it will destroy", H6979C) — tagged in the data as a construct-form noun/verbal element rather than a standard finite verb, yet glossed as an action ("destroy"); this marks it as a less common verbal pattern.
• benei-shet ("descendants of Sheth", H1121+H8352) — construct chain "sons of" + proper name, marking the object group affected by the final action.

What the text says

The verse opens with two parallel first-person clauses, 'er'ennu ("I see him") and 'ashurennu ("I observe him", H7789), each followed by a negated temporal/spatial adverb — lo' 'attah ("not now") and lo' qarov ("not near"). This creates a balanced poetic couplet emphasizing distance in time and space between the speaker and the vision.

The main body of the oracle uses a chain of perfect verbs — darakh ("it will march forth"), qam ("it will arise"), machatz ("it will shatter", H4272), and qarqar ("it will destroy") — connected by the narrative vav (H9001), a pattern that in Hebrew narrative typically signals sequential action, here projected into the future despite the perfect (completed-action) form. The subjects shift from kokhav ("star") and shevet ("scepter") to an implied agent performing the shattering and destroying, acting upon pa'atei mo'av ("corners of Moab", H6285, dual construct) and benei-shet.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew shevet ("scepter") is rendered as virga ("rod") in the Vulgate, matching the Hebrew sense, but as ἄνθρωπος ("man") in the LXX — a divergence from the Hebrew "scepter" image toward a human figure.

The Hebrew pa'atei mo'av ("corners of Moab") appears in the LXX as τοὺς ἀρχηγοὺς Μωάβ ("the chiefs of Moab") and in the Vulgate as duces Moab ("the leaders of Moab"), both diverging from the Hebrew's spatial/anatomical term toward a term for leadership figures; the BSB rendering "skulls of Moab" reflects yet another interpretive choice for the same Hebrew phrase.

The final verb qarqar ("it will destroy") corresponds to LXX προνομεύσει ("will plunder/lead away as spoil") and Vulgate vastabit ("will devastate"), showing three distinct verbal nuances — destruction, plundering, and devastation — for the same Hebrew term.