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Numbers 23:5-7
New English Translation
Numbers 23:5-7
New English Translation
5 Then the Lord put a message[a] in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.”[b]
6 So he returned to him, and he was still[c] standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab. 7 Then Balaam[d] uttered[e] his oracle, saying,
“Balak, the king of Moab, brought me[f] from Aram,
out of the mountains of the east, saying,
‘Come, pronounce a curse on Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.’[g]
Footnotes
- Numbers 23:5 tn Heb “word.”
- Numbers 23:5 tn Heb “and thus you shall speak.”
- Numbers 23:6 tn The Hebrew text draws the vividness of the scene with the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh)—Balaam returned, and there he was, standing there.
- Numbers 23:7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Numbers 23:7 tn Heb “took up.”
- Numbers 23:7 tn 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.
- Numbers 23:7 sn The opening lines seem to be a formula for the seer to identify himself and the occasion for the oracle. The tension is laid out early; Balaam knows that God has intended to bless Israel, but he has been paid to curse them.
New English Translation (NET)
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