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Numbers 22:6-8
New English Translation
Numbers 22:6-8
New English Translation
6 So[a] now, please come and curse this nation[b] for me, for they are too powerful for me. Perhaps I will prevail so that we may conquer them[c] and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed,[d] and whoever you curse is cursed.”
7 So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fee for divination in their hands. They came to Balaam and reported[e] to him the words of Balak. 8 He replied to them, “Stay[f] here tonight, and I will bring back to you whatever word the Lord may speak to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Numbers 22:6 tn 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.
- Numbers 22:6 tn Heb “people.” So also in vv. 10, 17, 41.
- Numbers 22:6 tn The construction uses the imperfect tense אוּכַל (ʾukhal, “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.
- Numbers 22:6 tn The verb is the Piel imperfect of בָּרַךְ (barakh), with the nuance of possibility: “whomever you may bless.” The Pual participle מְבֹרָךְ (mevorakh) serves as the predicate.
- Numbers 22:7 tn Heb “spoke.”
- Numbers 22:8 tn 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.
New English Translation (NET)
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