What Does Numbers 22:7 Mean in the King James?
And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The payment for divination and Balak’s words arrive together, so this request already carries both its price and the message it wants.
THE MEANING
You meet a desire for hidden knowledge already packaged as an exchange: payment in hand, a message to deliver. The verse exposes how a request can arrive carrying both its price and the answer it hopes to obtain.
THE ROOT
קְסָמִים
qesāmîm
GROWS FROM
קסם
q-s-m
Divination; the practice of seeking hidden knowledge by divining.
The Hebrew places qesamim, “divinations,” in the travelers’ hands; the KJV phrase also conveys the payment they carry. The root’s branches name the practice and its practitioner, keeping the sought divination audible inside the transaction.
ALSO GROWS
qesem: Divination; an oracle or act of divining.
קֶסֶם
This is the noun behind the verse’s “divination,” linking the carried payment to the practice it is meant to obtain.
qōsēm: A diviner; one who practices divination.
קֹסֵם
This branch names the person expected to provide the sought message: Balaam.
qāsam: To practice divination; to divine.
קָסַם
The verb shows that the request concerns an act of seeking hidden knowledge, not simply a gift carried on a journey.
THE PATTERN
When spiritual insight is treated as something money can procure, the payment exposes an attempt to make revelation serve the buyer.
The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.THE THREAD
The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.The Hebrew word translated “divine” comes from the same root קסם (q-s-m) as the divination carried in this verse. Micah makes the money link explicit: payment is joined to the demand for a spiritual message.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us