Numbers 24:7
Water shall flow out of his bucket, and his seed shall be in many waters. For Agag his king shall be removed, and his kingdom shall be taken awry.
Open Numbers 24:7 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Fluet aqua de situla ejus, et semen illius erit in aquas multas. Tolletur propter Agag, rex ejus, et auferetur regnum illius.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἐξελεύσεται ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ, καὶ κυριεύσει ἐθνῶν πολλῶν· καὶ ὑψωθήσεται ἢ Γὼγ βασιλεία, καὶ αὐξηθήσεται ἡ βασιλεία αὐτοῦ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- יִֽזַּל מַ֨יִם֙ מִדָּ֣לְיָ֔ו וְזַרְע֖וֹ בְּמַ֣יִם רַבִּ֑ים וְיָרֹ֤ם מֵֽאֲגַג֙ מַלְכּ֔וֹ וְתִנַּשֵּׂ֖א מַלְכֻתֽוֹ
Haydock's commentary
Waters. Septuagint, Chaldean, and Syriac, "From his seed a man shall spring, who shall have dominion over many nations." This must be understood of the Messias; or, his posterity shall be very numerous; (see Proverbs v. 15, 16) or his country shall be well watered, and his crops luxuriant.
Agag. Saul lost his crown for sparing the king of the Amalecites, who always took this title, 1 Kings xv. 9. Hebrew may be translated, "Above Agag shall his (Israel's) king be exalted, yet," &c., or "and his kingdom shall increase." Philo and St. Ambrose read, "his kingdom shall be raised on high." The Samaritan and some copies of the Septuagint have, "Over Gog;" while others have Og, (Calmet) which may be referred to the king of Basan, who, though lately overthrown, had been possessed of great power and wealth. Israel was not satisfied with the extent of his dominions. (Haydock)
Those who read Gog, suppose that the victories of Christ over Antichrist are foretold. (Origen, hom. 17.; St. Cyprian, Test. i. 10.) (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Cyprian Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews, That Christ is both man and God, compounded of both natures, that He might be a Mediator between us and the Father
In Jeremiah: “And He is man, and who shall know Him?” Also in Numbers: “A Star shall arise out of Jacob, and a man shall rise up from Israel.” Also in the same place: “A Man shall go forth out of his seed, and shall rule over many nations; and His kingdom shall be exalted as Gog, and His kingdom shall be increased; and God brought Him forth out of Egypt. His glory is as of the unicorn, and He shall eat the nations of His enemies, and shall take out the marrow of their fatnesses, and will pierce His enemy with His arrows. He couched and lay down as a lion, and as a lion’s whelp. …
St Athanasius The Incarnation of the Word, Unbelief of Jews and scoffing of Greeks. The former confounded by their own Scriptures. Prophecies of His coming as God and as Man
These things being so, and the Resurrection of His body and the victory gained over death by the Saviour being clearly proved, come now let us put to rebuke both the disbelief of the Jews and the scoffing of the Gentiles. 2. For these, perhaps, are the points where Jews express incredulity, while Gentiles laugh, finding fault with the unseemliness of the Cross, and of the Word of God becoming man. But our argument shall not delay to grapple with both especially as the proofs at our command against them are clear as day. 3. For Jews in their incredulity may be refuted from the Scriptures, which even themselves read; for this text and that, and, in a word, the whole inspired Scripture, cries aloud concerning these things, as even its express words abundantly shew. …
St Gregory Nazianzen Miscellaneous Letters, Letter LXXVII
Phineas was called Zelotes because he ran through the Midianitish woman with the man who was committing fornication with her, and because he took away the reproach from the children of Israel: but he was more praised because he prayed for the people when they had transgressed. Let us then also stand and make propitiation, and let the plague be stayed, and let this be counted unto us for righteousness. Moses also was praised because he slew the Egyptian that oppressed the Israelite; but he was more admirable because he healed by his prayer his sister Miriam when she was made leprous for her murmuring. Look also at what follows. The people of Nineve are threatened with an overthrow, but by their tears they redeem their sin. Manasses was the most lawless of Kings, but is the most conspicuous among those who have attained salvation through mourning.
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).