Numbers 22:19-20

22:19 Now therefore, please stay ¹  the night here also, that I may know what more the Lord might say to me.” ²  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 12:6

12:6 The Lord ³  said, “Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, ⁴  I the Lord ⁵  will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream.

Numbers 23:12

23:12 Balaam replied, ⁶  “Must I not be careful ⁷  to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?” ⁸ 

Jeremiah 12:2

12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. ⁹ 

They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. ¹⁰ 

They always talk about you,

but they really care nothing about you. ¹¹ 

Ezekiel 33:31

33:31 They come to you in crowds, ¹²  and they sit in front of you as ¹³  my people. They hear your words, but do not obey ¹⁴  them. For they talk lustfully, ¹⁵  and their heart is set on ¹⁶  their own advantage. ¹⁷ 

[22:19]  ¹ tn In this case “lodge” is not used, but “remain, reside” (שְׁבוּ, shÿvu).

[22:19]  ² tn This clause is also a verbal hendiadys: “what the Lord might add to speak,” meaning, “what more the Lord might say.”

[12:6]  ³ tn Heb “he.”

[12:6]  ⁴ tn The form of this construction is rare: נְבִיאֲכֶם (nÿvi’akhem) would normally be rendered “your prophet.” The singular noun is suffixed with a plural pronominal suffix. Some commentators think the MT has condensed “a prophet” with “to you.”

[12:6]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew syntax is difficult here. “The Lord” is separated from the verb by two intervening prepositional phrases. Some scholars conclude that this word belongs with the verb at the beginning of v. 6 (“And the Lord spoke”).

[23:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “he answered and said.” The referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:12]  ⁷ 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 Lord has put in my mouth. The infinitive construct “to speak” is therefore serving as the direct object of שָׁמַר.

[23:12]  ⁸ 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.

[12:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “You planted them and they took root.”

[12:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they grow and produce fruit.” For the nuance “grow” for the verb which normally means “go, walk,” see BDB 232 s.v. חָלַךְ Qal.I.3 and compare Hos 14:7.

[12:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “You are near in their mouths, but far from their kidneys.” The figure of substitution is being used here, “mouth” for “words” and “kidneys” for passions and affections. A contemporary equivalent might be, “your name is always on their lips, but their hearts are far from you.”

[33:31]  ¹² tn Heb “as people come.” Apparently this is an idiom indicating that they come in crowds. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:264.

[33:31]  ¹³ tn The word “as” is supplied in the translation.

[33:31]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “do.”

[33:31]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “They do lust with their mouths.”

[33:31]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “goes after.”

[33:31]  ¹⁷ tn The present translation understands the term often used for “unjust gain” in a wider sense, following M. Greenberg, who also notes that the LXX uses a term which can describe either sexual or ritual pollution. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:687.