7:10 The leaders offered 1 gifts 2 for 3 the dedication 4 of the altar when it was anointed. 5 And the leaders presented 6 their offering before the altar.
23:4 Then God met Balaam, who 8 said to him, “I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”
1 tn The verse begins with the preterite and vav (ו) consecutive: “and they offered.”
2 tn The direct object, “gifts,” is implied but not actually stated in the Hebrew text. It has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.
3 tn The sign of the accusative here must indicate an adverbial accusative and not the direct object; they offered their gifts for the dedication of the altar.
4 sn Some commentators take the word “dedication” in the sense of a dedication gift, and so make it the direct object. Many modern scholars assume that this is a late word, belonging only in P, the Chronicler, and the heading of Ps 30 (a Davidic psalm).
5 tn The adverbial clause uses the Niphal infinitive construct as the main verb. The word is the well-known מָשַׁח (mashakh, “to anoint, smear”).
6 tn Heb “offered,” but this is redundant and has been translated as “presented” for stylistic reasons. The same phrase occurs in vv. 11 and 12.
7 tn The Hebrew text has “on the altar,” but since there were seven of each animal and seven altars, the implication is that this means on each altar.
8 tn The relative pronoun is added here in place of the conjunction to clarify that Balaam is speaking to God and not vice versa.
9 tn Heb “one kid of the goats.”
10 sn Or about 420 imperial pounds.