Numbers 23:8

23:8 How ¹  can I curse ²  one whom God has not cursed,

or how can I denounce one whom the Lord has not denounced?

Deuteronomy 23:4-5

23:4 for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired ³  Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you. 23:5 But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam and changed ⁴  the curse to a blessing, for the Lord your God loves ⁵  you.

Deuteronomy 23:1

Purity in Public Worship

23:1 A man with crushed ⁶  or severed genitals ⁷  may not enter the assembly of the Lord. ⁸ 

Deuteronomy 14:28-29

14:28 At the end of every three years you must bring all the tithe of your produce, in that very year, and you must store it up in your villages. 14:29 Then the Levites (because they have no allotment or inheritance with you), the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows of your villages may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work you do.

Deuteronomy 17:1-2

17:1 You must not sacrifice to him ⁹  a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other defect, because that is considered offensive ¹⁰  to the Lord your God. 17:2 Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you – in one of your villages ¹¹  that the Lord your God is giving you – who sins before the Lord your God ¹²  and breaks his covenant

Deuteronomy 16:12

16:12 Furthermore, remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so be careful to observe these statutes.

Nehemiah 13:2

13:2 for they had not met the Israelites with food ¹³  and water, but instead had hired Balaam to curse them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into blessing.)

Psalms 109:28

109:28 They curse, but you will bless. ¹⁴ 

When they attack, they will be humiliated, ¹⁵ 

but your servant will rejoice.

¹ tn The figure is erotesis, a rhetorical question. He is actually saying he cannot curse them because God has not cursed them.

² tn The imperfect tense should here be classified as a potential imperfect.

³ tn Heb “hired against you.”

⁴ tn Heb “the Lord your God changed.” The phrase “the Lord your God” has not been included in the translation here for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy. Moreover, use of the pronoun “he” could create confusion regarding the referent (the Lord or Balaam).

⁵ tn The verb אָהַב (’ahav, “love”) here and commonly elsewhere in the Book of Deuteronomy speaks of God’s elective grace toward Israel. See note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37.

⁶ tn Heb “bruised by crushing,” which many English versions take to refer to crushed testicles (NAB, NRSV, NLT); TEV “who has been castrated.”

⁷ tn Heb “cut off with respect to the penis”; KJV, ASV “hath his privy member cut off”; English versions vary in their degree of euphemism here; cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, NLT “penis”; NASB “male organ”; NCV “sex organ”; CEV “private parts”; NIV “emasculated by crushing or cutting.”

⁸ sn The Hebrew term translated “assembly” (קָהָל, qahal) does not refer here to the nation as such but to the formal services of the tabernacle or temple. Since emasculated or other sexually abnormal persons were commonly associated with pagan temple personnel, the thrust here may be primarily polemical in intent. One should not read into this anything having to do with the mentally and physically handicapped as fit to participate in the life and ministry of the church.

⁹ tn Heb “to the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “an abomination”; cf. NAB) describes persons, things, or practices offensive to ritual or moral order. See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:314-18; see also the note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.

¹¹ tn Heb “gates.”

¹² tn Heb “does the evil in the eyes of the Lord your God.”

¹³ tn Heb “bread.” The Hebrew term is generic here, however, referring to more than bread alone.

¹⁴ tn Another option is to translate the imperfect as a prayer/request (“may you bless”).

¹⁵ tn The verbal sequence is perfect + prefixed form with vav (ו) consecutive. Since the psalmist seems to be anticipating the demise of his enemies, he may be using these forms rhetorically to describe the enemies’ defeat as if it were already accomplished. Some emend the text to קָמוּ יֵבֹשׁוּ (qamu yevoshu, “may those who attack me be humiliated”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 75.