29:1 So Jacob moved on 3 and came to the land of the eastern people. 4
“Balak, the king of Moab, brought me 7 from Aram,
out of the mountains of the east, saying,
‘Come, pronounce a curse on Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.’ 8
1 tn Heb “the sons of the concubines who [belonged] to Abraham.”
2 tn Heb “And he sent them away from upon Isaac his son, while he was still living, eastward to the land of the east.”
3 tn Heb “and Jacob lifted up his feet.” This unusual expression suggests that Jacob had a new lease on life now that God had promised him the blessing he had so desperately tried to gain by his own efforts. The text portrays him as having a new step in his walk.
4 tn Heb “the land of the sons of the east.”
5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “took up.”
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.
8 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.