24:20 Then Balaam 6 looked on Amalek and delivered this oracle: 7
“Amalek was the first 8 of the nations,
but his end will be that he will perish.”
24:21 Then he looked on the Kenites and uttered this oracle:
“Your dwelling place seems strong,
and your nest 9 is set on a rocky cliff.
1 tn The disjunctive vav (ו) is here introducing a circumstantial clause of time.
2 tn There is no verb “became” in this line. The second half of the line is introduced with the particle הִנֵה (hinneh, “look, behold”) in its archaic sense. This deictic use is intended to make the reader focus on Miriam as well.
3 sn The word “leprosy” and “leprous” covers a wide variety of skin diseases, and need not be limited to the actual disease of leprosy known today as Hansen’s disease. The description of it here has to do with snow, either the whiteness or the wetness. If that is the case then there would be open wounds and sores – like Job’s illness (see M. Noth, Numbers [OTL], 95-96).
4 tn Heb “turned to.”
5 tn The words “at them” are not in the Hebrew text, but they have been added in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “and he lifted up his oracle and said.” So also in vv. 21, 23.
8 sn This probably means that it held first place, or it thought that it was “the first of the nations.” It was not the first, either in order or greatness.
9 sn A pun is made on the name Kenite by using the word “your nest” (קִנֶּךָ, qinnekha); the location may be the rocky cliffs overlooking Petra.