Numbers 24:3

Summary

The verse introduces a poetic oracle spoken by Balaam. The narrative marks the moment he "lifts up" his mashal ("oracle") and begins speaking, identifying himself first by lineage (son of Beor) and then by a descriptive epithet concerning his eye/sight.

Key words

• va-yissa ("he lifted up", H5375N) — qal narrative verb; the idiom "to lift up an oracle" marks the formal beginning of prophetic/poetic speech, distinct from ordinary "saying."
• meshal-o ("his oracle", H4912) — construct noun with 3ms suffix; designates a specific genre of elevated, often figurative speech, here belonging to Balaam.
• ne'um ("utterance of", H5002) — construct noun, repeated twice (lines 7 and 13); a formulaic term typically introducing solemn prophetic declarations, creating parallel structure.
• shetum ("opened of" / construct form, H8365) — a rare construct noun found almost only in this oracle (and its repetition in 24:15); its exact sense is debated since the root is scarcely attested elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible.
• ha-'ayin ("the eye", H5869A) — definite singular noun completing the construct chain with shetum, describing a quality of Balaam's eye/sight.

What the text says

The verse has two narrative verbs joined by vav — va-yissa ("and he lifted up") followed by va-yomar ("and he said") — a common Hebrew narrative pattern where the first verb frames the act (raising an oracle) and the second introduces the direct speech that follows. The introduced speech itself opens with two parallel construct phrases, both built on ne'um ("utterance of"): first "ne'um Bil'am beno Ve'or" (utterance of Balaam, son of Beor), then "u-ne'um ha-gever shetum ha-'ayin" (utterance of the man, [the] shetum of the eye). This doubling of ne'um creates a parallelistic, elevated style typical of oracular speech, naming the speaker twice — once genealogically, once through a physical/perceptual description tied to his eye.

The phrase shetum ha-'ayin is grammatically a construct chain (noun + definite noun), but the meaning of shetum (H8365) is unusual: it occurs almost exclusively in this oracle, and its semantic range is not clearly fixed by other biblical usage, unlike common words.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew construct shetum ha-'ayin is rendered very differently in the ancient versions. The LXX has ὁ ἀληθινῶς ὁρῶν ("the one who truly sees"), suggesting clear or accurate sight. The Vulgate instead reads cujus obturatus est oculus ("whose eye is stopped up/blocked"), suggesting impaired or closed sight — the opposite implication. Modern translations (BSB, SBLIBRE) follow a sense closer to the LXX, rendering "eyes open" or "who sees with clarity," while the Vulgate's reading points toward closure rather than openness.