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 

[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.