22:7 So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fee for divination in their hand. They came to Balaam and reported 8 to him the words of Balak.
22:18 Balaam replied 10 to the servants of Balak, “Even if Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I could not transgress the commandment 11 of the Lord my God 12 to do less or more.
24:12 Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not also tell your messengers whom you sent to me, 24:13 ‘If Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond 14 the commandment 15 of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own will, 16 but whatever the Lord tells me I must speak’?
24:1 17 When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, 18 he did not go as at the other times 19 to seek for omens, 20 but he set his face 21 toward the wilderness.
9:1 24 The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out 25 of the land of Egypt:
8:18 Now Simon, when he saw that the Spirit 26 was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, offered them money, 8:19 saying, “Give me this power 27 too, so that everyone I place my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.” 8:20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, 28 because you thought you could acquire 29 God’s gift with money!
1 tn The Hebrew text also has “in your hand.”
2 tn Heb “Inquire of the
3 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn The Hebrew text also has “in his hand.”
5 tn Heb “and.” It is possible that the conjunction is here explanatory, equivalent to English “that is.” In this case the forty camel loads constitute the “gift” and one should translate, “He took along a gift, consisting of forty camel loads of all the fine things of Damascus.”
6 sn The words “your son” emphasize the king’s respect for the prophet.
7 tn Heb “saying.”
8 tn Heb “spoke.”
9 tn 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.
10 tn Heb “answered and said.”
11 tn Heb “mouth.”
12 sn In the light of subsequent events one should not take too seriously that Balaam referred to Yahweh as his God. He is referring properly to the deity for which he is acting as the agent.
13 tn Heb “flee to your place.”
14 tn Heb “I am not able to go beyond.”
15 tn Heb “mouth.”
16 tn Heb “from my heart.”
17 sn For a thorough study of the arrangement of this passage, see E. B. Smick, “A Study of the Structure of the Third Balaam Oracle,” The Law and the Prophets, 242-52. He sees the oracle as having an introductory strophe (vv. 3, 4), followed by two stanzas (vv. 5, 6) that introduce the body (vv. 7b-9b) before the final benediction (v. 9b).
18 tn Heb “it was good in the eyes of the
19 tn Heb “as time after time.”
20 tn The word נְחָשִׁים (nÿkhashim) means “omens,” or possibly “auguries.” Balaam is not even making a pretense now of looking for such things, because they are not going to work. God has overruled them.
21 tn The idiom signifies that he had a determination and resolution to look out over where the Israelites were, so that he could appreciate more their presence and use that as the basis for his expressing of the oracle.
22 tn The verb is simply “stand,” but in the more general sense of waiting to hear the answer.
23 tn The cohortative may be subordinated to the imperative: “stand…[that I] may hear.”
24 sn The chapter has just the two sections, the observance of the Passover (vv. 1-14) and the cloud that led the Israelites in the wilderness (vv. 15-23). It must be remembered that the material in vv. 7-9 is chronologically earlier than vv. 1-6, as the notices in the text will make clear. The two main discussions here are the last major issues to be reiterated before dealing with the commencement of the journey.
25 tn The temporal clause is formed with the infinitive construct of יָצָא (yatsa’, “to go out; to leave”). This verse indicates that a full year had passed since the exodus and the original Passover; now a second ruling on the Passover is included at the beginning of the second year. This would have occurred immediately after the consecration of the tabernacle, in the month before the census at Sinai.
26 tc Most witnesses (Ì45,74 A* C D E Ψ 33 1739 Ï latt sy bo) here read “the Holy Spirit” (τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, to pneuma to {agion), while a few key
27 tn Or “ability”; Grk “authority.”
28 tn Grk “May your silver together with you be sent into destruction.” This is a strong curse. The gifts of God are sovereignly bestowed and cannot be purchased.
29 tn Or “obtain.”