Discovery BoxNumbers 22:12-18 
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.”
22:15 Balak again sent princes, 6 more numerous and more distinguished than the first. 7 22:16 And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak son of Zippor: ‘Please do not let anything hinder you from coming 8 to me. 22:17 For I will honor you greatly, 9 and whatever you tell me I will do. So come, put a curse on this nation for me.’”
22:18 Balaam replied 10 to the servants of Balak, “Even if Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I could not transgress the commandment 11 of the Lord my God 12 to do less or more.
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.”
6 tn The construction is a verbal hendiadys. It uses the Hiphil preterite of the verb “to add” followed by the Qal infinitive “to send.” The infinitive becomes the main verb, and the preterite an adverb: “he added to send” means “he sent again.”
7 tn Heb “than these.”
8 tn The infinitive construct is the object of the preposition.
9 tn The construction uses the Piel infinitive כַּבֵּד (kabbed) to intensify the verb, which is the Piel imperfect/cohortative אֲכַבֶּדְךָ (’akhabbedkha). The great honor could have been wealth, prestige, or position.
10 tn Heb “answered and said.”
11 tn Heb “mouth.”
12 sn In the light of subsequent events one should not take too seriously that Balaam referred to Yahweh as his God. He is referring properly to the deity for which he is acting as the agent.
