Bilangan 24:5-10

24:5 ‘How ¹  beautiful are your tents, O Jacob,

and your dwelling places, O Israel!

24:6 They are like ²  valleys ³  stretched forth,

like gardens by the river’s side,

like aloes ⁴  that the Lord has planted,

and like cedar trees beside the waters.

24:7 He will pour the water out of his buckets, ⁵ 

and their descendants will be like abundant ⁶  water; ⁷ 

their king will be greater than Agag, ⁸ 

and their kingdom will be exalted.

24:8 God brought them out of Egypt.

They have, as it were, the strength of a young bull;

they will devour hostile people ⁹ 

and will break their bones

and will pierce them through with arrows.

24:9 They crouch and lie down like a lion,

and as a lioness, ¹⁰  who can stir him?

Blessed is the one who blesses you,

and cursed is the one who curses you!’”

24:10 Then Balak became very angry at Balaam, and he struck his hands together. ¹¹  Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have done nothing but bless ¹²  them these three times!

[24:5]  ¹ tn Here מָה (mah) has an exclamatory sense: “How!” (see Gen 28:17).

[24:6]  ² tn Heb “as valleys they spread forth.”

[24:6]  ³ tn Or “rows of palms.”

[24:6]  ⁴ sn The language seems to be more poetic than precise. N. H. Snaith notes that cedars do not grow beside water; he also connects “aloes” to the eaglewood that is more exotic, and capable of giving off an aroma (Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 298).

[24:7]  ⁵ tc For this colon the LXX has “a man shall come out of his seed.” Cf. the Syriac Peshitta and Targum.

[24:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “many.”

[24:7]  ⁷ sn These two lines are difficult, but the general sense is that of irrigation buckets and a well-watered land. The point is that Israel will be prosperous and fruitful.

[24:7]  ⁸ sn Many commentators see this as a reference to Agag of 1 Sam 15:32-33, the Amalekite king slain by Samuel, for that is the one we know. But that is by no means clear, for this text does not identify this Agag. If it is that king, then this poem, or this line in this poem, would have to be later, unless one were to try to argue for a specific prophecy. Whoever this Agag is, he is a symbol of power.

[24:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “they will devour nations,” their adversaries.

[24:9]  ¹⁰ tn On the usage of this word see HALOT 517 s.v. לָבִיא.

[24:10]  ¹¹ sn This is apparently a sign of contempt or derision (see Job 27:23; and Lam 2:15).

[24:10]  ¹² tn The construction is emphatic, using the infinitive absolute with the perfect tense for “bless.”