translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: NUM

label: NET translator note

text: The verse begins with the vav ( ו ) consecutive.


text: The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.


text: For the location of Jericho see Map5-B2 ; Map6-E1 ; Map7-E1 ; Map8-E3 ; Map10-A2 ; Map11-A1 .


text: The word is simply “company,” but in the context he must mean a vast company – a horde of people.


text: Heb “by the river”; in most contexts this expression refers to the Euphrates River (cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).


text: Heb “in the land of Amaw” (cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV); traditionally “in the land of the sons of his people.” The LXX has “by the river of the land.”


text: Heb “eye.” So also in v. 11 .


text: The two lines before this verse begin with the particle הִנֵּה ( hinneh ), and so they lay the foundation for these imperatives. In view of those circumstances, this is what should happen.


text: Heb “people.” So also in vv. 10, 17, 41 .


text: The construction uses the imperfect tense אוּכַל (’ ukhal , “I will be able”) followed by the imperfect tense נַכֶּה ( nakkeh , “we will smite/attack/defeat”). The second verb is clearly the purpose or the result of the first, even though there is no conjunction or particle.


text: The verb is the Piel imperfect of בָּרַךְ ( barakh ), with the nuance of possibility: “whomever you may bless.” The Pual participle מְבֹרָךְ ( mÿvorakh ) serves as the predicate.


text: Heb “spoke.”


text: The verb לִין ( lin ) means “to lodge, spend the night.” The related noun is “a lodge” – a hotel of sorts. Balaam needed to consider the offer. And after darkness was considered the best time for diviners to consult with their deities. Balaam apparently knows of the Lord ; he testifies to this effect in 22:18 .


text: In this passage the text differs slightly; here it is “the nation that comes out,” using the article on the noun, and the active participle in the attributive adjective usage.


text: Here the infinitive construct is used to express the object or complement of the verb “to be able” (it answers the question of what he will be able to do).


text: The verb is the Piel perfect with vav ( ו ) consecutive. It either carries the force of an imperfect tense, or it may be subordinated to the preceding verbs.


text: The two verbs are negated imperfects; they have the nuance of prohibition: You must not go and you must not curse.


text: The word בָּרוּךְ ( barukh ) is the Qal passive participle, serving here as the predicate adjective after the supplied verb “to be.” The verb means “enrich,” in any way, materially, spiritually, physically. But the indication here is that the blessing includes the promised blessing of the patriarchs, a blessing that gave Israel the land. See further, C. Westermann, Blessing in the Bible and the Life of the Church (OBT).


label: NET textual note

text: The LXX adds “to your lord.”


text: The main verb is the Piel perfect, “he has refused.” This is followed by two infinitives. The first ( לְתִתִּי , lÿtitti ) serves as a complement or direct object of the verb, answering the question of what he refused to do – “to give me.” The second infinitive ( לַהֲלֹךְ , lahalokh ) provides the object for the preceding infinitive: “to grant me to go.”


text: Heb “rose up.”


text: The construction is a verbal hendiadys. It uses the Hiphil preterite of the verb “to add” followed by the Qal infinitive “to send.” The infinitive becomes the main verb, and the preterite an adverb: “he added to send” means “he sent again.”


text: Heb “than these.”


text: The infinitive construct is the object of the preposition.


text: The construction uses the Piel infinitive כַּבֵּד ( kabbed ) to intensify the verb, which is the Piel imperfect/cohortative אֲכַבֶּדְךָ (’ akhabbedkha ). The great honor could have been wealth, prestige, or position.


text: Heb “answered and said.”


text: Heb “mouth.”


text: In this case “lodge” is not used, but “remain, reside” ( שְׁבוּ , shÿvu ).


text: This clause is also a verbal hendiadys: “what the Lord might add to speak,” meaning, “what more the Lord might say.”


text: The word is שָׂטָן ( satan , “to be an adversary, to oppose”).


text: The word has the conjunction “and” on the noun, indicating this is a disjunctive vav ( ו ), here serving as a circumstantial clause.


text: The word means a “narrow place,” having the root meaning “to be deep.” The Greek thought it was in a field in a narrow furrow.


text: Heb “a wall on this side, and a wall on that side.”


text: Heb “he added to beat her,” another verbal hendiadys.


text: The optative clause is introduced with the particle לוּ ( lu ).


text: Here the Hiphil perfect is preceded by the Hiphil infinitive absolute for emphasis in the sentence.


text: Heb “to do thus to you.”


text: The Hishtaphel verb חָוָה ( khavah ) – שָׁחָה ( shakhah ) with metathesis – has a basic idea of “bow oneself low to the ground,” and perhaps in some cases the idea of “coil up.” This is the normal posture of prayer and of deep humility in the ancient religious world.


text: Heb “your way.”


text: The verb יָרַט ( yarat ) occurs only here and in Job 16:11 . Balaam is embarking on a foolish mission with base motives. The old rendering “perverse” is still acceptable.


text: Many commentators consider אוּלַי (’ ulay , “perhaps”) to be a misspelling in the MT in place of לוּלֵי ( luley , “if not”).


text: The verb is the cohortative from “return”: I will return [me].


text: The imperfect tense here can be given the nuance of permission.


text: The Hebrew word order is a little more emphatic than this: “but only the word which I speak to you, it you shall speak.”


text: The emphatic construction is made of the infinitive absolute and the perfect tense from the verb שָׁלַח ( shalakh , “to send”). The idea must be more intense than something like, “Did I not certainly send.” Balak is showing frustration with Balaam for refusing him.


text: The verb is אוּכַל (’ ukhal ) in a question – “am I able?” But emphasizing this is the infinitive absolute before it. So Balaam is saying something like, “Can I really say anything?”


text: The Piel infinitive construct (without the preposition) serves as the object of the verb “to be able.” The whole question is rhetorical – he is saying that he will not be able to say anything God does not allow him to say.


text: The imperfect tense is here taken as an obligatory imperfect.