Discovery BoxNumbers 24:13-16 
Context24:13 ‘If Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond 1 the commandment 2 of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own will, 3 but whatever the Lord tells me I must speak’? 24:14 And now, I am about to go 4 back to my own people. Come now, and I will advise you as to what this people will do to your people in the future.” 5
24:15 Then he uttered this oracle: 6
“The oracle of Balaam son of Beor;
the oracle of the man whose eyes are open;
24:16 the oracle of the one who hears the words of God,
and who knows the knowledge of the Most High,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
although falling flat on the ground with eyes open:
1 tn Heb “I am not able to go beyond.”
2 tn Heb “mouth.”
3 tn Heb “from my heart.”
4 tn The construction is the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) suffixed followed by the active participle. This is the futur instans use of the participle, to express something that is about to happen: “I am about to go.”
5 tn Heb “in the latter days.” For more on this expression, see E. Lipinski, “באחרית הימים dans les textes préexiliques,” VT 20 (1970): 445-50.
6 tn Heb “and he took up his oracle and said.”
