20:20 But he said, “You may not pass through.” Then Edom came out against them 11 with a large and powerful force. 12
23:1 14 Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”
23:18 Balaam 17 uttered 18 his oracle, and said,
“Rise up, 19 Balak, and hear;
Listen to me, son of Zippor:
32:6 Moses said to the Gadites and the Reubenites, “Must your brothers go to war while you 20 remain here?
33:50 The Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. He said:
35:1 22 Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the Moabite plains by the Jordan near Jericho. 23 He said:
1 tn The verb is simply “stand,” but in the more general sense of waiting to hear the answer.
2 tn The cohortative may be subordinated to the imperative: “stand…[that I] may hear.”
3 tn The form is the Piel participle מְשָׁרֵת (mÿsharet), meaning “minister, servant, assistant.” The word has a loftier meaning than the ordinary word for slave.
4 tn The verb is בָּחַר (bakhar, “to choose”); here the form is the masculine plural participle with a suffix, serving as the object of the preposition מִן (min). It would therefore mean “[one of] his chosen men,” or “[one of] his choice men.”
5 tn Heb “answered and said.”
6 sn The effort of Joshua is to protect Moses’ prerogative as leader by stopping these men in the camp from prophesying. Joshua did not understand the significance in the
7 tn The line literally has, “Why is this [that] you are transgressing….” The demonstrative pronoun is enclitic; it brings the force of “why in the world are you doing this now?”
8 tn Heb “mouth.”
9 tn Heb “Moses sent to summon.” The verb קָרָא (qara’) followed by the lamed (ל) preposition does not mean “call to” but “summon.” This is a command performance; for them to appear would be to submit to Moses’ authority. This they will not do.
10 tn The imperfect tense נַעֲלֶה (na’aleh) expresses their unwillingness to report: “we are not willing,” or “we will not.” The verb means “to go up.” It is used in the sense of appearing before an authority or a superior (see, e.g., Gen 46:31; Deut 25:7; Judg 4:5).
11 tn Heb “to meet him.”
12 tn Heb “with many [heavy] people and with a strong hand.” The translation presented above is interpretive, but that is what the line means. It was a show of force, numbers and weapons, to intimidate the Israelites.
13 tn Heb “rose up.”
14 sn The first part of Balaam’s activity ends in disaster for Balak – he blesses Israel. The chapter falls into four units: the first prophecy (vv. 1-10), the relocation (vv. 11-17), the second prophecy (vv. 18-24), and a further location (vv. 25-30).
15 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn The verse uses כֹּה (koh) twice: “Station yourself here…I will meet [the
17 tn Heb “he.” The antecedent has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
18 tn Heb “took up.”
19 tn The verb probably means “pay attention” in this verse.
20 tn The vav (ו) is a vav disjunctive prefixed to the pronoun; it fits best here as a circumstantial clause, “while you stay here.”
21 tn Heb “that which goes out/has gone out of your mouth.”
22 sn This section has two main parts, the Levitical cities (vv. 1-8) and the Cities of Refuge (vv. 9-34).
23 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.