Bilangan 23:20

23:20 Indeed, I have received a command ¹  to bless;

he has blessed, ²  and I cannot reverse it. ³ 

Ayub 11:10

11:10 If he comes by ⁴  and confines ⁵  you ⁶ 

and convenes a court, ⁷ 

then who can prevent ⁸  him?

Yesaya 14:27

14:27 Indeed, ⁹  the Lord who commands armies has a plan,

and who can possibly frustrate it?

His hand is ready to strike,

and who can possibly stop it? ¹⁰ 

[23:20]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text simply has “I have received [to] bless.” The infinitive is the object of the verb, telling what he received. Balaam was not actually commanded to bless, but was given the word of blessing so that he was given a divine decree that would bless Israel.

[23:20]  ² sn The reference is probably to the first speech, where the Lord blessed Israel. Balaam knows that there is nothing he can do to reverse what God has said.

[23:20]  ³ tn The verb is the Hiphil of שׁוּב (shuv), meaning “to cause to return.” He cannot return God’s word to him, for it has been given, and it will be fulfilled.

[11:10]  ⁴ tn The verb יַחֲלֹף (yakhalof) is literally “passes by/through” (NIV “comes along” in the sense of “if it should so happen”). Many accept the emendation to יַחְתֹּף (yakhtof, “he seizes,” cf. Gordis, Driver), but there is not much support for these.

[11:10]  ⁵ tn The verb is the Hiphil of סָגַר (sagar, “to close; to shut”) and so here in this context it probably means something like “to shut in; to confine.” But this is a difficult meaning, and the sentence is cryptic. E. Dhorme (Job, 162) thinks this word and the next have to be antithetical, and so he suggests from a meaning “to keep confined” the idea of keeping a matter secret; and with the next verb, “to convene an assembly,” he offers “to divulge it.”

[11:10]  ⁶ tn The pronoun “you” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation.

[11:10]  ⁷ tn The denominative Hiphil of קָהָל (qahal, “an assembly”) has the idea of “to convene an assembly.” In this context there would be the legal sense of convening a court, i.e., calling Job to account (D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 255). See E. Ullendorff, “The Meaning of QHLT,” VT 12 (1962): 215; he defines the verb also as “argue, rebuke.”

[11:10]  ⁸ tn The verb means “turn him back.” Zophar uses Job’s own words (see 9:12).

[14:27]  ⁹ tn Or “For” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “His hand is outstretched and who will turn it back?”