Bilangan 22:10

22:10 Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent a message to me, saying,

Bilangan 24:25

24:25 Balaam got up and departed and returned to his home, ¹  and Balak also went his way.

Yosua 13:22

13:22 The Israelites killed Balaam son of Beor, the omen reader, ²  along with the others. ³ 

Mazmur 9:16

9:16 The Lord revealed himself;

he accomplished justice;

the wicked were ensnared by their own actions. ⁴  (Higgaion. ⁵  Selah)

Mazmur 10:2

10:2 The wicked arrogantly chase the oppressed; ⁶ 

the oppressed are trapped ⁷  by the schemes the wicked have dreamed up. ⁸ 

Mazmur 10:1

Psalm 10 ⁹ 

10:1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?

Why do you pay no attention during times of trouble? ¹⁰ 

Titus 1:9-10

1:9 He must hold firmly to the faithful message as it has been taught, ¹¹  so that he will be able to give exhortation in such healthy teaching ¹²  and correct those who speak against it.

1:10 For there are many ¹³  rebellious people, idle talkers, and deceivers, especially those with Jewish connections, ¹⁴ 

Titus 1:2

1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began. ¹⁵ 

Pengkhotbah 2:15

2:15 So I thought to myself, “The fate of the fool will happen even to me! ¹⁶ 

Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively ¹⁷  wise?” ¹⁸ 

So I lamented to myself, ¹⁹ 

“The benefits of wisdom ²⁰  are ultimately ²¹  meaningless!”

Yudas 1:11

1:11 Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, ²²  and because of greed ²³  have abandoned themselves ²⁴  to ²⁵  Balaam’s error; hence, ²⁶  they will certainly perish ²⁷  in Korah’s rebellion.

Wahyu 2:14

2:14 But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, ²⁸  who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block ²⁹  before the people ³⁰  of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. ³¹ 

Wahyu 19:20

19:20 Now ³²  the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf ³³  – signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur. ³⁴ 

[24:25]  ¹ tn Heb “place.”

[13:22]  ² tn Or “diviner.”

[13:22]  ³ tn Heb “Balaam son of Beor, the omen-reader, the Israelites killed with the sword, along with their slain ones.”

[9:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “by the work of his hands [the] wicked [one] was ensnared. The singular form רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) is collective or representative here (see vv. 15, 17). The form נוֹקֵשׁ (noqesh) appears to be an otherwise unattested Qal form (active participle) from נָקַשׁ (naqash), but the form should be emended to נוֹקַשׁ (noqash), a Niphal perfect from יָקַשׁ (yaqash).

[9:16]  ⁵ tn This is probably a technical musical term.

[10:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “because of the pride of [the] wicked he burns [i.e. hotly pursues] [the] oppressed.” The singular forms רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) and עָנִי (’aniy, “oppressed”) are collective and representative, as indicated in the next line, which uses plural verb forms to describe the actions of both.

[10:2]  ⁷ tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 2 describe either what typically happens (from the psalmist’s perspective) or what the psalmist was experiencing at the time he offered this prayer.

[10:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “they are trapped in the schemes which they have thought up.” The referents of the two pronominal suffixes on the verbs have been specified in the translation for clarity. The referent of the first suffix (“they”) is taken as the oppressed, while the referent of the second (“they”) is taken to be the wicked (cf. NIV, which renders “wicked” in the previous line as a collective singular). Others take the referent of both occurrences of “they” in the line to be the wicked (cf. NRSV, “let them be caught in the schemes they have devised”).

[10:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 10. Many Hebrew mss and the ancient Greek version (LXX) combine Psalms 9 and 10 into a single psalm. Taken in isolation, Psalm 10 is a petition for help in which the psalmist urges the Lord to deliver him from his dangerous enemies, whom he describes in vivid and terrifying detail. The psalmist concludes with confidence; he is certain that God’s justice will prevail.

[10:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you hide for times in trouble.” The interrogative “why” is understood by ellipsis; note the preceding line. The Hiphil verbal form “hide” has no expressed object. Some supply “your eyes” by ellipsis (see BDB 761 s.v. I עָלַם Hiph and HALOT 835 s.v. I עלם hif) or emend the form to a Niphal (“you hide yourself,” see BHS, note c; cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[1:9]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the faithful message in accordance with the teaching” (referring to apostolic teaching).

[1:9]  ¹² tn Grk “the healthy teaching” (referring to what was just mentioned).

[1:10]  ¹³ tc ‡ The earliest and best mss lack καί (kai) after πολλοί (polloi; so א A C P 088 81 104 365 614 629 630 al sy co), though the conjunction is found in several significant witnesses, chiefly of the Western and Byzantine texts (D F G I Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï lat). Although it is possible that some scribes omitted the word, thinking it was superfluous, it is also possible that others added the conjunction for clarification. Judging by the pedigree of the witnesses and the inconclusiveness of the internal evidence, the shorter reading is considered to be most likely original. NA²⁷ puts the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[1:10]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “those of the circumcision.” Some translations take this to refer to Jewish converts to Christianity (cf. NAB “Jewish Christians”; TEV “converts from Judaism”; CEV “Jewish followers”) while others are less clear (cf. NLT “those who insist on circumcision for salvation”).

[1:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “before eternal ages.”

[2:15]  ¹⁶ tn The emphatic use of the 1st person common singular personal pronoun אֲנִי (’ani, “me”) with the emphatic particle of association גַּם (gam, “even, as well as”; HALOT 195–96 s.v. גַּם) appears to emphasize the 1st person common singular suffix on יִקְרֵנִי (yiqreni) “it will befall [or “happen to”] me” (Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular + 1st person common singular suffix from קָרָה, qarah, “to befall; to happen to”); see GKC 438 §135.e. Qoheleth laments not that the fate of the wise man is the same as that of the fool, but that even he himself – the wisest man of all – would fare no better in the end than the most foolish.

[2:15]  ¹⁷ tn The adjective יוֹתֵר (yoter) means “too much; excessive,” e.g., 7:16 “excessively righteous” (HALOT 404 s.v. יוֹתֵר 2; BDB 452 s.v. יוֹתֵר). It is derived from the root יֶתֶר (yeter, “what is left over”); see HALOT 452 s.v. I יֶתֶר. It is related to the verbal root יתר (Niphal “to be left over”; Hiphil “to have left over”); see HALOT 451–52 s.v. I יתר. The adjective is related to יִתְרוֹן (yitron, “advantage; profit”) which is a key-term in this section, creating a word-play: The wise man has a relative “advantage” (יִתְרוֹן) over the fool (2:13-14a); however, there is no ultimate advantage because both share the same fate, i.e., death (2:14b-15a). Thus, Qoheleth’s acquisition of tremendous wisdom (1:16; 2:9) was “excessive” because it exceeded its relative advantage over folly: it could not deliver him from the same fate as the fool. He had striven to obtain wisdom, yet it held no ultimate advantage.

[2:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “And why was I wise (to) excess?” The rhetorical question is an example of negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “I gained nothing!” (E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949).

[2:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “So I said in my heart.”

[2:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and also this,” referring to the relative advantage of wisdom over folly.

[2:15]  ²¹ tn The word “ultimately” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:11]  ²² tn Or “they have gone the way of Cain.”

[1:11]  ²³ tn Grk “for wages.”

[1:11]  ²⁴ tn The verb ἐκχέω (ekcew) normally means “pour out.” Here, in the passive, it occasionally has a reflexive idea, as BDAG 312 s.v. 3. suggests (with extra-biblical examples).

[1:11]  ²⁵ tn Or “in.”

[1:11]  ²⁶ tn Grk “and.” See note on “perish” later in this verse.

[1:11]  ²⁷ tn The three verbs in this verse are all aorist indicative (“have gone down,” “have abandoned,” “have perished”). Although the first and second could be considered constative or ingressive, the last is almost surely proleptic (referring to the certainty of their future judgment). Although it may seem odd that a proleptic aorist is so casually connected to other aorists with a different syntactical force, it is not unparalleled (cf. Rom 8:30).

[2:14]  ²⁸ sn See Num 22-24; 31:16.

[2:14]  ²⁹ tn That is, a cause for sinning. An alternate translation is “who instructed Balak to cause the people of Israel to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols…”

[2:14]  ³⁰ tn Grk “sons,” but the expression υἱοὶ ᾿Ισραήλ (Juioi Israhl) is an idiom for the people of Israel as an ethnic entity (see L&N 11.58).

[2:14]  ³¹ tn Due to the actual events in the OT (Num 22-24; 31:16), πορνεῦσαι (porneusai) is taken to mean “sexual immorality.” BDAG 854 s.v. πορνεύω 1 states, “engage in illicit sex, to fornicate, to whore…W. φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα ‘eat meat offered to idols’ Rv 2:14, 20.”

[19:20]  ³² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of an unexpected development in the account: The opposing armies do not come together in battle; rather the leader of one side is captured.

[19:20]  ³³ tn For this meaning see BDAG 342 s.v. ἐνώπιον 4.b, “by the authority of, on behalf of Rv 13:12, 14; 19:20.”

[19:20]  ³⁴ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”