Discovery BoxNumbers 20:17 
Context20:17 Please let us pass through 1 your country. We will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well. We will go by the King’s Highway; 2 we will not turn to the right or the left until we have passed through your region.’” 3
Numbers 22:6
Context22:6 So 4 now, please come and curse this nation 5 for me, for they are too powerful for me. Perhaps I will prevail so that we may conquer them 6 and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, 7 and whoever you curse is cursed.”
1 tn The request is expressed by the use of the cohortative, “let us pass through.” It is the proper way to seek permission.
2 sn This a main highway running from Damascus in the north to the Gulf of Aqaba, along the ridge of the land. Some scholars suggest that the name may have been given by the later Assyrians (see B. Obed, “Observations on Methods of Assyrian Rule in Transjordan after the Palestinian Campaign of Tiglathpileser III,” JNES 29 [1970]: 177-86). Bronze Age fortresses have been discovered along this highway, attesting to its existence in the time of Moses. The original name came from the king who developed the highway, probably as a trading road (see S. Cohen, IDB 3:35-36).
3 tn Heb “borders.”
4 tn The two lines before this verse begin with the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh), and so they lay the foundation for these imperatives. In view of those circumstances, this is what should happen.
5 tn Heb “people.” So also in vv. 10, 17, 41.
6 tn The construction uses the imperfect tense אוּכַל (’ukhal, “I will be able”) followed by the imperfect tense נַכֶּה (nakkeh, “we will smite/attack/defeat”). The second verb is clearly the purpose or the result of the first, even though there is no conjunction or particle.
7 tn The verb is the Piel imperfect of בָּרַךְ (barakh), with the nuance of possibility: “whomever you may bless.” The Pual participle מְבֹרָךְ (mÿvorakh) serves as the predicate.
