¹ sn For an example of such a curse formula see Jer 29:22.

¹ tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”

¹ tn Heb “[with] a curse his mouth is full, and lies and injury.”

² tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”

² tn Heb “and the Lord will restore to me good in place of his curse this day.”

¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the curses mentioned previously) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹ sn The divine curse. See note on this phrase in Deut 2:34.

¹ tn The verb is preceded by the infinitive absolute: “you shall by no means curse” or “do not curse them at all.” He brought him to curse, and when he tried to curse there was a blessing. Balak can only say it would be better not to bother.

⁴ tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.

¹ sn This proverb is saying that a curse that is uttered will be powerless if that curse is undeserved. It was commonly believed in the ancient world that blessings and curses had power in themselves, that once spoken they were effectual. But scripture makes it clear that the power of a blessing or a curse depends on the power of the one behind it (e.g., Num 22:38; 23:8). A curse would only take effect if the one who declared it had the authority to do so, and he would only do that if the curse was deserved.

⁶ tn Grk “having hearts trained in greediness, children of cursing.” The participles continue the general description of the false teachers, without strong grammatical connection. The genitive κατάρας (kataras, “of cursing”) is taken attributively here.

⁵ tn Or “bound themselves under a curse.” BDAG 63 s.v. ἀναθεματίζω 1 has “trans. put under a curse τινά someone…ἀ. ἑαυτόν vss. 12, 21, 13 v.l.”

³ sn The word amen is found at the end of each of the curses in Deut 27, where the people express their agreement with the appropriateness of the curse for the offense mentioned.

³ tn Grk “let him be accursed” (ἀνάθεμα, anathema). The translation gives the outcome which is implied by this dreadful curse.

⁴ tn Or “bound ourselves under a curse.” BDAG 63 s.v. ἀναθεματίζω 1 has “trans. put under a curse τινά someone…pleonastically ἀναθέματι ἀ. ἑαυτόν Ac 23:14…ἀ. ἑαυτόν vss. 12, 21, 13 v.l.” The pleonastic use ἀναθέματι ἀνεθεματίσαμεν (literally “we have cursed ourselves with a curse”) probably serves as an intensifier following Semitic usage, and is represented in the translation by the word “solemn.” On such oaths see m. Nedarim 3:1, 3.

⁴ sn The curse is, of course, the covenant curse. See Deut 29:20-21 (29:19-20 HT), and for the specific curse see Deut 28:23-24. The curse is appropriate since their “adultery” lay in attributing their fertility to the god Baal (see Hos 2:9-13 (2:11-15 HT) and violating the covenant (see Hos 4:1-3).

¹ tn Or “the curse of the Lord,” a subjective genitive indicating the curse that the Lord makes. The noun מְאֵרַה (m^eʾerah, “curse”) is the opposite, or antonym, of בְּרָכָה (b^erakhah, “blessing”). It is associated with poverty and affliction. The curse of God brings ruin and failure to crops, land in general, an individual, or the nation (Deut 28:20; Mal 2:2; 3:9; see BDB 76 s.v.; HALOT 541 s.v.).

¹ sn I would feed. After the parenthetical “curse” in v. 15, the Lord’s speech continues here.

² sn Go down alive. This curse imagines a swift and sudden death for the psalmist’s enemies.

² tn Heb “how I said concerning this place and its residents to become [an object of] horror and [an example of] a curse.” The final phrase (“horror and a curse”) refers to Judah becoming a prime example of an accursed people. In curse formulations they would be held up as a prime example of divine judgment. For an example of such a curse, see Jer 29:22.