Numbers 22:18-20

22:18 Balaam replied ¹  to the servants of Balak, “Even if Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I could not transgress the commandment ²  of the Lord my God ³  to do less or more. 22:19 Now therefore, please stay ⁴  the night here also, that I may know what more the Lord might say to me.” ⁵  22:20 God came to Balaam that night, and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, get up and go with them; but the word that I will say to you, that you must do.”

Numbers 22:35

22:35 But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you may only speak ⁶  the word that I will speak to you.” ⁷  So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

¹ tn Heb “answered and said.”

² tn Heb “mouth.”

³ 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.

⁴ tn In this case “lodge” is not used, but “remain, reside” (שְׁבוּ, shÿvu).

⁵ tn This clause is also a verbal hendiadys: “what the Lord might add to speak,” meaning, “what more the Lord might say.”

⁶ tn The imperfect tense here can be given the nuance of permission.

⁷ tn The Hebrew word order is a little more emphatic than this: “but only the word which I speak to you, it you shall speak.”