The Douay-Rheims with the Glossa Ordinaria

¹And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord that he should bless Israel, he went not as he had gone before, to seek divination: but setting his face towards the desert,

²And lifting up his eyes, he saw Israel abiding in their tents by their tribes: and the spirit of God rushing upon him,

³He took up his parable and said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man hath said, whose eye is stopped up:

⁴The bearer of the words of God hath said, he that hath beheld the vision of the Almighty, he that falleth, and so his eyes are opened:

⁵How beautiful are thy tabernacles O Jacob, and thy tents, O Israel!

⁶As woody valleys, as watered gardens near the rivers, as tabernacles which the Lord hath pitched, as cedars by the waterside.

⁷Water 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 away.

⁸God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros. They shall devour the nations that are his enemies, and break their bones, and pierce them with arrows.

v.8

VERS. 8.-- *He brought him out of.* God brought him out of Egypt, that is, after the death of Herod, whence: *Out of Egypt have I called my Son*. Which seems to be taken from this place and inserted into the Gospel, or else from the prophet Osee. After the death of Herod, or out of the world, the Father brought him out to himself, that he might make a way for those who were to ascend from this world to God. *Whose strength is like,* etc. For casting down all the kingdoms of the demons, he founded his own one kingdom in glory as a true unicorn: for the horn signifies a kingdom. *They shall devour the nations,* etc. *He shall eat the nations of his enemies, and shall suck the marrow of their fatness,* etc. The nations, namely, etc., *as far as* who is intelligible and holy, and is called both one and manifold and subtle. *And they shall pierce with arrows.* The Seventy: *And with their darts they shall shoot the enemy.* For Christ by his words overcame the devil, and overcomes and breaks all who contradict him: for everyone who sins is his enemy while he sins; but if, pierced by the words of God and acknowledging his sins, he be pricked to the heart and turned to repentance, he is said to be pierced by his darts.

⁹Lying down he hath slept as a lion, and as a lioness, whom none shall dare to rouse. He that blesseth thee, shall also himself be blessed: he that curseth thee shall be reckoned accursed.

v.9

VERS. 9.-- *Lying down he hath slept as a lion,* etc. If thou hast understood how much rest the way of wisdom has, how much grace, and how much sweetness, do not dissemble, do not neglect it, set out upon the way, and do not shudder at the solitude of the desert; for to him who dwells in tabernacles of this kind the heavenly manna comes, and thou shalt eat the bread of angels. Only begin quickly, and angels will come into thy company, whom the cedars signify. *Whom none shall dare to rouse up;* the Seventy: *Who shall rouse him up?* For now he is said to be raised up by the Father; now he himself says that he will raise up the temple of his body, and therefore the feeling of one inquiring, as it were, is signified. *He that blesseth.* Those who bless, bless Christ, being taken up into the communion of the Father's blessing. But those who curse are accursed. The Jews who cursed Christ are lamentably accursed. For what could befall those who curse wisdom and truth and life, save that they should lie exiled from all these? For all these things Christ is. *He that curseth thee shall be reckoned as accursed: And Balac being angry against.* I think that not only does he curse Christ who utters a cursing word against him, but also he who under the name of a Christian acts wickedly and lives basely, and by dishonorable words or deeds causes his name to be blasphemed. Just as not only does he bless God who blesses him with words alone, but also he who by his acts, his life and his manners causes the name of God to be blessed.

¹⁰And Balac being angry against Balaam, clapped his hands together and said: I called thee to curse my enemies, and thou on the contrary hast blessed them three times.

¹¹Return to thy place. I had determined indeed greatly to honour thee, but the Lord hath deprived thee of the honour designed for thee.

¹²Balaam made answer to Balac: Did I not say to thy messengers, whom thou sentest to me:

¹³If Balac would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to utter any thing of my own head either good or evil: but whatsoever the Lord shall say, that I will speak?

¹⁴But yet going to my people, I will give thee counsel, what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.

¹⁵Therefore taking up his parable, again he said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man whose eye is stopped up, hath said:

v.15

VERS. 15.-- *Balaam said.* *Balaam the son of Beor,* etc., *as far as* which were granted for our profit. * The man hath said, whose eye is stopped.* The wicked man does not know the evils he does, except when he has begun to be punished for them. Balaam furnished counsel against the Israelites, but afterward in his punishment he saw what he had first committed by his fault. But the elect, because they ought not to sin, see beforehand: their eyes are open before the fall. The unjust man, however, opens his eyes after the fall, because after the fault, already in punishment, he perceives that he ought to have avoided the evil which he did. (VERS. 16.-- *Who falling hath his eyes opened.* Often the evil man marvels at the eternal judgments, and when he hears the preaching of the heavenly country he loves it, and is astonished at the works of the divine ordering. Lying down, therefore, he considers the miracles, because he weighs the power of God by knowing it, but does not love it by living.

¹⁶The hearer of the words of God hath said, who knoweth the doctrine of the Highest, and seeth the visions of the Almighty, who falling hath his eyes opened:

¹⁷I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near. A STAR SHALL RISE out of Jacob and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel: and shall strike the chiefs of Moab, and shall waste all the children of Seth

v.17

VERS. 17.-- *I shall see him, but not now.* Another reading: *I will show to him, and not now. I will pronounce blessed, and he draweth not nigh.* These things are referred to those whose person he bears. Because the doctors of the law and the scribes show that Christ was promised in the law and the prophets, but not now; that is, when he came, but when the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in, then they will show, then they will pronounce blessed, now they blaspheme. But the time in which these things shall be is far off, and at the end of the world. Therefore he says: *I will show to him,* that is, to the people which shall then be saved, *but not now.* *Not now,* while I speak these things: Because *when the fulness of time came, God sent his Son*. *A star shall rise out of Jacob.* Concerning this star, etc., *as far as* that both may appear to have been plainly prophesied. *And he shall strike the leaders, nailing the principalities and powers to the cross*. Otherwise he cannot save the Moabites, unless he had first laid waste the leaders of impiety. *And he shall waste all.* *And he shall spoil all the children of Seth.* This is Seth the son of Adam, etc., *as far as* he called back from death to life. *And Idumea shall be his possession.* *And Edom shall be an inheritance to him, Esau his enemy,* etc. Edom is the same as Esau, etc., *as far as* through obedience he will stand forth a partaker in spirit of the inheritance to come.

¹⁸And he shall possess Idumea: the inheritance of Seir shall come to their enemies, but Israel shall do manfully.

¹⁹Out of Jacob shall he come that shall rule, and shall destroy the remains of the city.

²⁰And when he saw Amalec, he took up his parable, and said: Amalec the beginning of nations, whose latter ends shall be destroyed.

²¹He saw also the Cinite: and took up his parable, and said: Thy habitation indeed is strong: but though thou build thy nest in a rock,

²²And thou be chosen of the stock of Cin, how long shalt thou be able to continue? For Assur shall take thee captive.

²³And taking up his parable, again he said: Alas, who shall live when God shall do these things?

²⁴They shall come in galleys from Italy, they shall overcome the Assyrians, and shall waste the Hebrews, and at the last they themselves also shall perish.

v.24

VERS. 24.-- *They shall come.* He seems to signify that about the time of the Lord's incarnation the Romans should come, about to overcome the Assyrians, the Hebrews and all the men of the East, and at last to lose their kingdom, according to the statue of Daniel; or that at the coming of Christ at the end of the times, which the western part signifies, all the kingdoms of the world should be overcome by the sword of the spirit, that is, by the word of God, and that in the time of Antichrist the preaching of the Gospel should cease. Another reading, etc., *as far as* to him over all the power of the enemy. *The Hebrews.* A Hebrew is one who passes over from Egypt to the land of promise, from darkness to light, from death to life: but he cannot obtain it without a great struggle; he afflicts therefore and is afflicted, he strikes down his adversary and is struck down. The Assyrians therefore afflict the Hebrews, that is, the people of God, just as they are afflicted by them. *They also shall perish.* *And they likewise shall perish.* Not together with the Hebrews, namely, but likewise, etc., *as far as* whom the deceit of the devil led down into death.

²⁵And Balaam rose, and returned to his place: Balac also returned the way that he came.