12:11 So Aaron said to Moses, “O my lord, 1 please do not hold this sin against us, in which we have acted foolishly and have sinned!
21:30 We have overpowered them; 2
Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon.
We have shattered them as far as Nophah,
which 3 reaches to Medeba.”
22:28 Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?”
23:4 Then God met Balaam, who 4 said to him, “I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”
23:11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but on the contrary 5 you have only blessed them!” 6
1 tn The expression בִּי אֲדֹנִי (bi ’adoni, “O my lord”) shows a good deal of respect for Moses by Aaron. The expression is often used in addressing God.
2 tc The first verb is difficult. MT has “we shot at them.” The Greek has “their posterity perished” (see GKC 218 §76.f).
3 tc The relative pronoun “which” (אֲשֶׁר, ’asher) posed a problem for the ancient scribes here, as indicated by the so-called extraordinary point (punta extraordinaria) over the letter ר (resh) of אֲשֶׁר. Smr and the LXX have “fire” (אֵשׁ, ’esh) here (cf. NAB, NJB, RSV, NRSV). Some modern scholars emend the word to שֹׁאָה (sho’ah, “devastation”).
4 tn The relative pronoun is added here in place of the conjunction to clarify that Balaam is speaking to God and not vice versa.
5 tn The Hebrew text uses הִנֵּה (hinneh) here to stress the contrast.
6 tn The construction is emphatic, using the perfect tense and the infinitive absolute to give it the emphasis. It would have the force of “you have done nothing but bless,” or “you have indeed blessed.” The construction is reminiscent of the call of Abram and the promise of the blessing in such elaborate terms.