Numbers 23:1-2

Balaam Blesses Israel

23:1 ¹ Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 23:2 So Balak did just as Balaam had said. Balak and Balaam then offered on each ²  altar a bull and a ram.

Job 42:8

42:8 So now take ³  seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job will intercede ⁴  for you, and I will respect him, ⁵  so that I do not deal with you ⁶  according to your folly, ⁷  because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has.” ⁸ 

Hebrews 10:8-12

10:8 When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them” ⁹  (which are offered according to the law), 10:9 then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” ¹⁰  He does away with ¹¹  the first to establish the second. 10:10 By his will ¹²  we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 10:11 And every priest stands day after day ¹³  serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again – sacrifices that can never take away sins. 10:12 But when this priest ¹⁴  had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand ¹⁵  of God,

[23:1]  ¹ sn The first part of Balaam’s activity ends in disaster for Balak – he blesses Israel. The chapter falls into four units: the first prophecy (vv. 1-10), the relocation (vv. 11-17), the second prophecy (vv. 18-24), and a further location (vv. 25-30).

[23:2]  ² tn The Hebrew text has “on the altar,” but since there were seven of each animal and seven altars, the implication is that this means on each altar.

[42:8]  ³ tn The imperatives in this verse are plural, so all three had to do this together.

[42:8]  ⁴ tn The verb “pray” is the Hitpael from the root פָּלַל (palal). That root has the main idea of arbitration; so in this stem it means “to seek arbitration [for oneself],” or “to pray,” or “to intercede.”

[42:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will lift up his face,” meaning, “I will regard him.”

[42:8]  ⁶ tn This clause is a result clause, using the negated infinitive construct.

[42:8]  ⁷ tn The word “folly” can also be taken in the sense of “disgrace.” If the latter is chosen, the word serves as the direct object. If the former, then it is an adverbial accusative.

[42:8]  ⁸ sn The difference between what they said and what Job said, therefore, has to do with truth. Job was honest, spoke the truth, poured out his complaints, but never blasphemed God. For his words God said he told the truth. He did so with incomplete understanding, and with all the impatience and frustration one might expect. Now the friends, however, did not tell what was right about God. They were not honest; rather, they were self-righteous and condescending. They were saying what they thought should be said, but it was wrong.

[10:8]  ⁹ sn Various phrases from the quotation of Ps 40:6 in Heb 10:5-6 are repeated in Heb 10:8.

[10:9]  ¹⁰ tc The majority of mss, especially the later ones (א² 0278^vid 1739 Ï lat), have ὁ θεός (Jo qeo", “God”) at this point, while most of the earliest and best witnesses lack such an explicit addressee (so Ì⁴⁶ א* A C D K P Ψ 33 1175 1881 2464 al). The longer reading is a palpable corruption, apparently motivated in part by the wording of Ps 40:8 (39:9 LXX) and by the word order of this same verse as quoted in Heb 10:7.

[10:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “abolishes.”

[10:10]  ¹² tn Grk “by which will.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[10:11]  ¹³ tn Or “daily,” “every day.”

[10:12]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “this one.” This pronoun refers to Jesus, but “this priest” was used in the translation to make the contrast between the Jewish priests in v. 11 and Jesus as a priest clearer in English.

[10:12]  ¹⁵ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1.