Bilangan 23:7
Konteks23:7 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
Bilangan 31:14
Konteks31:14 But Moses was furious with the officers of the army, the commanders over thousands and commanders over hundreds, who had come from service in the war.
[23:7] 1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[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.