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.