17:25 The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who is coming up? He does so 1 to defy Israel. But the king will make the man who can strike him down very wealthy! He will give him his daughter in marriage, and he will make his father’s house exempt from tax obligations in Israel.”
17:26 David asked the men who were standing near him, “What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and frees Israel from this humiliation? 2 For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he defies the armies of the living God?”
17:45 But David replied to the Philistine, “You are coming against me with sword and spear and javelin. But I am coming against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel’s armies, whom you have defied!
“Balak, the king of Moab, brought me 6 from Aram,
out of the mountains of the east, saying,
‘Come, pronounce a curse on Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.’ 7
23:8 How 8 can I curse 9 one whom God has not cursed,
or how can I denounce one whom the Lord has not denounced?
21:21 11 Then Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites, saying, 12
23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see them; 13
from the hills I watch them. 14
Indeed, a nation that lives alone,
and it will not be reckoned 15 among the nations.
1 tn Heb “he is coming up.”
2 tn Heb “and turns aside humiliation from upon Israel.”
3 tc The LXX includes here the following words not found in the MT: “Should I not go and smite him, and remove today reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised one?”
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “took up.”
6 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.
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.
8 tn The figure is erotesis, a rhetorical question. He is actually saying he cannot curse them because God has not cursed them.
9 tn The imperfect tense should here be classified as a potential imperfect.
10 tn 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.
11 sn For this section, see further J. R. Bartlett, “Sihon and Og of the Amorites,” VT 20 (1970): 257-77, and “The Moabites and the Edomites,” Peoples of Old Testament Times, 229-58; S. H. Horn, “The Excavations at Tell Hesban, 1973,” ADAJ 18 (1973): 87-88.
12 tc Smr and the LXX have “words of peace.”
13 tn Heb “him,” but here it refers to the Israelites (Israel).
14 sn Balaam reports his observation of the nation of Israel spread out below him in the valley. Based on that vision, and the
15 tn 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.
16 tn The Hebrew text does not include the words “all this,” but they have been added in the translation for clarity.