“Balak, the king of Moab, brought me 3 from Aram,
out of the mountains of the east, saying,
‘Come, pronounce a curse on Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.’ 4
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?
24:10 Then Balak became very angry at Balaam, and he struck his hands together. 11 Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have done nothing but bless 12 them these three times!
109:17 He loved to curse 13 others, so those curses have come upon him. 14
He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings. 15
109:18 He made cursing a way of life, 16
so curses poured into his stomach like water
and seeped into his bones like oil. 17
109:19 May a curse attach itself to him, like a garment one puts on, 18
or a belt 19 one wears continually!
109:20 May the Lord repay my accusers in this way, 20
those who say evil things about 21 me! 22
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “took up.”
3 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.
4 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.
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 In this passage the text differs slightly; here it is “the nation that comes out,” using the article on the noun, and the active participle in the attributive adjective usage.
8 tn Here the infinitive construct is used to express the object or complement of the verb “to be able” (it answers the question of what he will be able to do).
9 tn The verb is the Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive. It either carries the force of an imperfect tense, or it may be subordinated to the preceding verbs.
10 tn The construction uses the Piel infinitive כַּבֵּד (kabbed) to intensify the verb, which is the Piel imperfect/cohortative אֲכַבֶּדְךָ (’akhabbedkha). The great honor could have been wealth, prestige, or position.
11 sn This is apparently a sign of contempt or derision (see Job 27:23; and Lam 2:15).
12 tn The construction is emphatic, using the infinitive absolute with the perfect tense for “bless.”
13 sn A curse in OT times consists of a formal appeal to God to bring judgment down upon another. Curses were sometimes justified (such as the one spoken by the psalmist here in vv. 6-19), but when they were not, the one pronouncing the curse was in danger of bringing the anticipated judgment down upon himself.
14 tn Heb “and he loved a curse and it came [upon] him.” A reference to the evil man experiencing a curse seems premature here, for the psalmist is asking God to bring judgment on his enemies. For this reason some (cf. NIV, NRSV) prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” as conjunctive and translate the verb as a jussive of prayer (“may it come upon him!”). The prefixed form with vav consecutive in the next line is emended in the same way and translated, “may it be far from him.” However, the psalmist may be indicating that the evil man’s lifestyle has already begun to yield its destructive fruit.
15 tn Heb “and he did not delight in a blessing and it is far from him.”
16 tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”
17 tn Heb “and it came like water into his inner being, and like oil into his bones.” This may refer to this individual’s appetite for cursing. For him cursing was as refreshing as drinking water or massaging oneself with oil. Another option is that the destructive effects of a curse are in view. In this case a destructive curse invades his very being, like water or oil. Some who interpret the verse this way prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” to a conjunctive vav and interpret the prefixed verb as a jussive, “may it come!”
18 tn Heb “may it be for him like a garment one puts on.”
19 tn The Hebrew noun מֵזַח (mezakh, “belt; waistband”) occurs only here in the OT. The form apparently occurs in Isa 23:10 as well, but an emendation is necessary there.
20 tn Heb “[may] this [be] the repayment to my accusers from the
21 tn Or “against.”
22 tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being; soul”) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).