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Numbers 22:38

Context
22:38 Balaam said to Balak, “Look, I have come to you. Now, am I able 1  to speak 2  just anything? I must speak 3  only the word that God puts in my mouth.”

Numbers 23:8

Context

23:8 How 4  can I curse 5  one whom God has not cursed,

or how can I denounce one whom the Lord has not denounced?

1 tn The verb is אוּכַל (’ukhal) in a question – “am I able?” But emphasizing this is the infinitive absolute before it. So Balaam is saying something like, “Can I really say anything?”

2 tn The Piel infinitive construct (without the preposition) serves as the object of the verb “to be able.” The whole question is rhetorical – he is saying that he will not be able to say anything God does not allow him to say.

3 tn The imperfect tense is here taken as an obligatory imperfect.

4 tn The figure is erotesis, a rhetorical question. He is actually saying he cannot curse them because God has not cursed them.

5 tn The imperfect tense should here be classified as a potential imperfect.



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