22:18 Balaam replied 4 to the servants of Balak, “Even if Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I could not transgress the commandment 5 of the Lord my God 6 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 10 the commandment 11 of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own will, 12 but whatever the Lord tells me I must speak’?
24:1 13 When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, 14 he did not go as at the other times 15 to seek for omens, 16 but he set his face 17 toward the wilderness.
1 tn Heb “he answered and said.” The referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn The verb שָׁמַר (shamar) means “to guard, watch, observe” and so here with a sense of “be careful” or even “take heed” (so KJV, ASV). The nuance of the imperfect tense would be obligatory: “I must be careful” – to do what? to speak what the
3 tn The clause is a noun clause serving as the direct object of “to speak.” It begins with the sign of the accusative, and then the relative pronoun that indicates the whole clause is the accusative.
4 tn Heb “answered and said.”
5 tn Heb “mouth.”
6 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.
7 tn The verb is אוּכַל (’ukhal) in a question – “am I able?” But emphasizing this is the infinitive absolute before it. So Balaam is saying something like, “Can I really say anything?”
8 tn The Piel infinitive construct (without the preposition) serves as the object of the verb “to be able.” The whole question is rhetorical – he is saying that he will not be able to say anything God does not allow him to say.
9 tn The imperfect tense is here taken as an obligatory imperfect.
10 tn Heb “I am not able to go beyond.”
11 tn Heb “mouth.”
12 tn Heb “from my heart.”
13 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).
14 tn Heb “it was good in the eyes of the
15 tn Heb “as time after time.”
16 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.
17 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.
18 tn Heb “rose up.”
19 tn Grk “answered and said to them.”
20 tn Grk “hear,” but the idea of “hear and obey” or simply “obey” is frequently contained in the Greek verb ἀκούω (akouw; see L&N 36.14).
21 tn Grk “for we are not able not to speak about what we have seen and heard,” but the double negative, which cancels out in English, is emphatic in Greek. The force is captured somewhat by the English translation “it is impossible for us not to speak…” although this is slightly awkward.
22 tn Grk “apostles answered and said.”
23 sn Obey. See 4:19. This response has Jewish roots (Dan 3:16-18; 2 Macc 7:2; Josephus, Ant. 17.6.3 [17.159].
24 tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).