unfoldingWord_en_tn/num/24/17.md

# General Information:

Balaam continues the first of his four prophecies.

# I see him, but he is not here now. I look at him, but he is not near

Both of these statements mean the same thing. Balaam is having a vision of a future event. The word "him" refers to a future leader of Israel. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parallelism]])

# A star will come out of Jacob

Here "star" refers to an Israelite king that will rise in power. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/writing-symlanguage]])

# out of Jacob

Here "Jacob" refers to the descendants of Jacob. Alternate translation: "from among the descendants of Jacob" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]])

# a scepter will rise out of Israel

This means the same thing as the first part of the sentence. Here "scepter" refers to a powerful king. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parallelism]])

# out of Israel

Here "Israel" refers to future Israelites. Alternate translation: "from among the Israelites in the future" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]])

# shatter Moab's leaders

Possible meanings are 1) he will break the heads of the leaders of Moab or 2) he will destroy the leaders of Moab.

# all the descendants of Seth

This also refers to the Moabites, who were descendants of Seth.