23:8 How 5 can I curse 6 one whom God has not cursed,
or how can I denounce one whom the Lord has not denounced?
23:23 For there is no spell against 7 Jacob,
nor is there any divination against Israel.
At this time 8 it must be said 9 of Jacob
and of Israel, ‘Look at 10 what God has done!’
23:1 11 Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”
6:11 “I hereby give orders that if anyone changes this directive a beam is to be pulled out from his house and he is to be raised up and impaled 20 on it, and his house is to be reduced 21 to a rubbish heap 22 for this indiscretion. 23 6:12 May God who makes his name to reside there overthrow any king or nation 24 who reaches out 25 to cause such change so as to destroy this temple of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have given orders. Let them be carried out with precision!”
7:21 “I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue orders to all the treasurers of 27 Trans-Euphrates, that you precisely execute all that Ezra the priestly scribe of the law of the God of heaven may request of you –
“For he is the living God;
he endures forever.
His kingdom will not be destroyed;
his authority is forever. 31
6:27 He rescues and delivers
and performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel from the power 32 of the lions!”
1 tn The word in the text is וַיָּסַר (vayyasar), which would be translated “and he turned aside” with the sense perhaps of removing the wheels. The reading in the LXX, Smr, and Syriac suggests a root אָסַר (’asar, “to bind”). The sense here might be “clogged – presumably by their sinking in the wet sand” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 120).
2 tn The clause is וַיְנַהֲגֵהוּ בִּכְבֵדֻת (vaynahagehu bikhvedut). The verb means “to drive a chariot”; here in the Piel it means “cause to drive.” The suffix is collective, and so the verbal form can be translated “and caused them to drive.” The idea of the next word is “heaviness” or “hardship”; it recalls the previous uses of related words to describe Pharaoh’s heart. Here it indicates that the driving of the crippled chariots was with difficulty.
3 tn The cohortative has the hortatory use here, “Let’s flee.” Although the form is singular, the sense of it is plural and so hortatory can be used. The form is singular to agree with the singular subject, “Egypt,” which obviously means the Egyptian army. The word for “flee” is used when someone runs from fear of immanent danger and is a different word than the one used in 14:5.
4 tn The form is the Niphal participle; it is used as the predicate here, that is, the verbal use: “the
5 tn The figure is erotesis, a rhetorical question. He is actually saying he cannot curse them because God has not cursed them.
6 tn The imperfect tense should here be classified as a potential imperfect.
7 tn 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.
8 tn The form is the preposition “like, as” and the word for “time” – according to the time, about this time, now.
9 tn 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.”
10 tn The words “look at” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.
11 sn The first part of Balaam’s activity ends in disaster for Balak – he blesses Israel. The chapter falls into four units: the first prophecy (vv. 1-10), the relocation (vv. 11-17), the second prophecy (vv. 18-24), and a further location (vv. 25-30).
12 tn Heb “a man by his own standard.”
13 tn The imperfect tense is to be taken in the nuance of instruction.
14 tn Heb “of/for the house of their fathers.”
15 tn The Hebrew expression מִנֶּגֶד (minneged) means “from before” or “opposite; facing” and “at some distance” or “away from the front of” (see BDB 617 s.v. נֶגֶד 2.c.a; DCH 5:603-4 s.v. 3.b).
16 sn The Israelites were camping as a military camp, each tribe with the standards and emblems of the family. The standard was the symbol fastened to the end of a pole and carried to battle. It served to rally the tribe to the battle. The Bible nowhere describes these, although the serpent emblem of Numbers 21:8-9 may give a clue. But they probably did not have shapes of animals in view of the prohibition in the Decalogue. The standards may have been smaller for the families than the ones for the tribes. See further K. A. Kitchen, “Some Egyptian Background to the Old Testament,” TynBul 5 (1960): 11; and T. W. Mann, Divine Presence and Guidance in Israelite Tradition, 169-73.
17 tn Heb “from all.”
18 tn Aram “according to the word of.”
19 tn Aram “for the life of the king and his sons.”
20 sn The practice referred to in v. 11 has been understood in various ways: hanging (cf. 1 Esd 6:32 and KJV); flogging (cf. NEB, NLT); impalement (BDB 1091 s.v. זְקַף; HALOT 1914 s.v. מחא hitpe; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV). The latter seems the most likely.
21 tn Aram “made.”
22 tn Aram “a dunghill.”
23 tn Aram “for this.”
24 tn Aram “people.”
25 tn Aram “who sends forth his hand.”
26 tn Aram “may fall to you to give.”
27 tn Aram “who are in.”
28 tn Heb “Because you [masc. pl.] sinned against the
29 tn Aram “from me is placed an edict.”
30 tn Aram “speaks negligence.”
31 tn Aram “until the end.”
32 tn Aram “hand.”