Discovery BoxNumbers 22:12-14 
Context22:12 But God said to Balaam, “You must not go with them; you must not curse the people, 1 for they are blessed.” 2
22:13 So Balaam got up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your land, 3 for the Lord has refused to permit me to go 4 with you.” 22:14 So the princes of Moab departed 5 and went back to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”
1 tn The two verbs are negated imperfects; they have the nuance of prohibition: You must not go and you must not curse.
2 tn The word בָּרוּךְ (barukh) is the Qal passive participle, serving here as the predicate adjective after the supplied verb “to be.” The verb means “enrich,” in any way, materially, spiritually, physically. But the indication here is that the blessing includes the promised blessing of the patriarchs, a blessing that gave Israel the land. See further, C. Westermann, Blessing in the Bible and the Life of the Church (OBT).
3 tc The LXX adds “to your lord.”
4 tn The main verb is the Piel perfect, “he has refused.” This is followed by two infinitives. The first (לְתִתִּי, lÿtitti) serves as a complement or direct object of the verb, answering the question of what he refused to do – “to give me.” The second infinitive (לַהֲלֹךְ, lahalokh) provides the object for the preceding infinitive: “to grant me to go.”
5 tn Heb “rose up.”
