translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: NUM

label: NET translator note

text: The Hebrew text has “on the altar,” but since there were seven of each animal and seven altars, the implication is that this means on each altar.


text: The verb הִתְיַצֵּב ( hityatsev ) means “to take a stand, station oneself.” It is more intentional than simply standing by something. He was to position himself by the sacrifice as Balaam withdrew to seek the oracle.


text: Heb “and the word of what he shows me.” The noun is in construct, and so the clause that follows functions as a noun clause in the genitive. The point is that the word will consist of divine revelation.


text: The verb is the perfect tense with vav ( ו ) consecutive. This clause is dependent on the clause that precedes it.


text: The relative pronoun is added here in place of the conjunction to clarify that Balaam is speaking to God and not vice versa.


text: Heb “word.”


text: Heb “and thus you shall speak.”


text: The Hebrew text draws the vividness of the scene with the deictic particle הִנֵּה ( hinneh ) – Balaam returned, and there he was , standing there.


text: Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “took up.”


text: The passage calls for a past tense translation; since the verb form is a prefixed conjugation, this tense should be classified as a preterite without the vav ( ו ). Such forms do occur, especially in the ancient poetic passages.


text: The figure is erotesis, a rhetorical question. He is actually saying he cannot curse them because God has not cursed them.


text: The imperfect tense should here be classified as a potential imperfect.


text: Heb “him,” but here it refers to the Israelites (Israel).


text: The verb could also be taken as a reflexive – Israel does not consider itself as among the nations, meaning, they consider themselves to be unique.


text: The question is again rhetorical; it means no one can count them – they are innumerable.


text: The perfect tense can also be classified as a potential nuance. It does not occur very often, but does occur several times.


text: Heb “and as a number, the fourth part of Israel.” The noun in the MT is not in the construct state, and so it should be taken as an adverbial accusative, forming a parallel with the verb “count.” The second object of the verse then follows, “the fourth part of Israel.” Smr and the LXX have “and who has numbered” ( וּמִסְפָּר , umispar ), making this colon more parallel to the preceding one. The editor of BHS prefers this reading.


text: The use of נֶפֶשׁ ( nefesh ) for the subject of the verb stresses the personal nature – me.


text: Heb “my latter end.”


text: Heb “his.”


text: The Hebrew text uses הִנֵּה ( hinneh ) here to stress the contrast.


text: The construction is emphatic, using the perfect tense and the infinitive absolute to give it the emphasis. It would have the force of “you have done nothing but bless,” or “you have indeed blessed.” The construction is reminiscent of the call of Abram and the promise of the blessing in such elaborate terms.


text: Heb “he answered and said.” The referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: The verb שָׁמַר ( shamar ) means “to guard, watch, observe” and so here with a sense of “be careful” or even “take heed” (so KJV, ASV). The nuance of the imperfect tense would be obligatory: “I must be careful” – to do what? to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth. The infinitive construct “to speak” is therefore serving as the direct object of שָׁמַר .


text: The clause is a noun clause serving as the direct object of “to speak.” It begins with the sign of the accusative, and then the relative pronoun that indicates the whole clause is the accusative.


text: Heb “he brought him”; the referents (Balak and Balaam) have been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Some scholars do not translate this word as “Pisgah,” but rather as a “lookout post” or an “elevated place.”


text: Heb “and he built.”


text: Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: The verse uses כֹּה ( koh ) twice: “Station yourself here …I will meet [the Lord ] there .”


text: Heb “word.”


text: Heb “he.” The antecedent has been supplied in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “took up.”


text: The verb probably means “pay attention” in this verse.


text: Heb “son of man.”


text: The verb is the Hiphil of קוּם ( qum , “to cause to rise; to make stand”). The meaning here is more of the sense of fulfilling the promises made.


text: The Hebrew text simply has “I have received [to] bless.” The infinitive is the object of the verb, telling what he received. Balaam was not actually commanded to bless, but was given the word of blessing so that he was given a divine decree that would bless Israel.


text: The verb is the Hiphil of שׁוּב ( shuv ), meaning “to cause to return.” He cannot return God’s word to him, for it has been given, and it will be fulfilled.


text: These could be understood as impersonal and so rendered “no one has discovered.”


text: The word means “wrong, misery, trouble.” It can mean the idea of “disaster” as well, for that too is trouble. Here it is parallel to “iniquity” and so has the connotation of something that would give God reason to curse them.


text: The people are blessed because God is their king. In fact, the shout of acclamation is among them – they are proclaiming the Lord God as their king. The word is used normally for the sound of the trumpet, but also of battle shouts, and then here acclamation. This would represent their conviction that Yahweh is king. On the usage of this Hebrew word see further BDB 929-30 s.v. תְּרוּעָה ; HALOT 1790-91 s.v.


text: The form is the Hiphil participle from יָצַא ( yatsa ’) with the object suffix. He is the one who brought them out.


text: Or “in Jacob.” But given the context the meaning “against” is preferable. The words describe two techniques of consulting God; the first has to do with observing omens in general (“enchantments”), and the second with casting lots or arrows of the like (“divinations” [ Ezek 21:26 ]). See N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers (NCB), 295-96.


text: The form is the preposition “like, as” and the word for “time” – according to the time, about this time, now.


text: The Niphal imperfect here carries the nuance of obligation – one has to say in amazement that God has done something marvelous or “it must be said.”


text: The words “look at” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.


text: The pronoun “their” has been supplied for clarity; it is not present in the Hebrew text.


text: The verb is preceded by the infinitive absolute: “you shall by no means curse” or “do not curse them at all.” He brought him to curse, and when he tried to curse there was a blessing. Balak can only say it would be better not to bother.


text: The same construction now works with “nor bless them at all.” The two together form a merism – “don’t say anything.” He does not want them blessed, so Balaam is not to do that, but the curse isn’t working either.


text: Heb “answered and said.”


text: This first clause, “all that the Lord speaks” – is a noun clause functioning as the object of the verb that comes at the end of the verse. It is something of an independent accusative case, since it is picked up with the sign of the accusative: “all that the Lord speaks, it I must do.”


text: Heb “be pleasing in the eyes of God.”


text: Or perhaps as a place name, “Jeshimon” (cf. 21:20 ).