Discovery BoxNumbers 11:8 
Context11:8 And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it with mills or pounded it in mortars; they baked it in pans and made cakes of it. It tasted like fresh olive oil. 1
Numbers 23:10
Context23:10 Who 2 can count 3 the dust 4 of Jacob,
Or number 5 the fourth part of Israel?
Let me 6 die the death of the upright, 7
and let the end of my life 8 be like theirs.” 9
Numbers 24:7
Context24:7 He will pour the water out of his buckets, 10
and their descendants will be like abundant 11 water; 12
their king will be greater than Agag, 13
and their kingdom will be exalted.
Numbers 24:9
Context24:9 They crouch and lie down like a lion,
and as a lioness, 14 who can stir him?
Blessed is the one who blesses you,
and cursed is the one who curses you!’”
1 tn Heb “And its taste was like the taste of fresh olive oil.”
2 tn The question is again rhetorical; it means no one can count them – they are innumerable.
3 tn The perfect tense can also be classified as a potential nuance. It does not occur very often, but does occur several times.
4 sn The reference in the oracle is back to Gen 13:16, which would not be clear to Balaam. But God had described their growth like the dust of the earth. Here it is part of the description of the vast numbers.
5 tn Heb “and as a number, the fourth part of Israel.” The noun in the MT is not in the construct state, and so it should be taken as an adverbial accusative, forming a parallel with the verb “count.” The second object of the verse then follows, “the fourth part of Israel.” Smr and the LXX have “and who has numbered” (וּמִסְפָּר, umispar), making this colon more parallel to the preceding one. The editor of BHS prefers this reading.
6 tn The use of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) for the subject of the verb stresses the personal nature – me.
7 sn Here the seer’s words link with the promise of Gen 12:3, that whoever blesses Israel will be blessed. Since the blessing belongs to them, the upright (and not Balak), Balaam would like his lot to be with them.
8 tn Heb “my latter end.”
9 tn Heb “his.”
10 tc For this colon the LXX has “a man shall come out of his seed.” Cf. the Syriac Peshitta and Targum.
11 tn Heb “many.”
12 sn These two lines are difficult, but the general sense is that of irrigation buckets and a well-watered land. The point is that Israel will be prosperous and fruitful.
13 sn Many commentators see this as a reference to Agag of 1 Sam 15:32-33, the Amalekite king slain by Samuel, for that is the one we know. But that is by no means clear, for this text does not identify this Agag. If it is that king, then this poem, or this line in this poem, would have to be later, unless one were to try to argue for a specific prophecy. Whoever this Agag is, he is a symbol of power.
14 tn On the usage of this word see HALOT 517 s.v. לָבִיא.
