Person Old and New Testament
Beor
Also known as Beor =ESV; Bezer =NIV; Bosor =KJV
Beor was the father of Balaam, a pagan prophet from Pethor. Mentioned in 9 verses across 5 books, first at Numbers 22:5.
Why it matters. Father of Balaam
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Beor
Beor was the father of Balaam, a well-known prophet from Pethor in Mesopotamia (Num. 22:5). Balaam was hired by Balak, the king of Moab, to curse the Israelites as they approached the Promised Land (Num. 22-24). Despite Balak's intentions, God used Balaam to bless Israel instead of cursing them (Num. 23-24).
However, Balaam later played a role in leading the Israelites into sin by promoting idolatry and sexual immorality (Num. 31:8, 16). As a result, Balaam was killed by the Israelites when they defeated the Midianites (Num. 31:8; Josh. 13:22).
Balaam's story is referenced several times in the Bible as a warning against greed and the abuse of spiritual gifts (Deut. 23:4-5; Josh. 24:9-10; Mic. 6:5; 2Pet. 2:15-16). Despite his initial obedience to God, Balaam's later actions demonstrate the dangers of compromising one's faith for personal gain.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
No reviewed connections yet.
Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
- Children
- Balaam
Appears in Scripture
Named in 9 verses across 5 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.