Numbers 23:7-8

23:7 Then Balaam ¹  uttered ²  his oracle, saying,

“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?

[23:7]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:7]  ² tn Heb “took up.”

[23:7]  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.

[23:7]  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.

[23:8]  ⁵ tn The figure is erotesis, a rhetorical question. He is actually saying he cannot curse them because God has not cursed them.

[23:8]  ⁶ tn The imperfect tense should here be classified as a potential imperfect.