Numbers 23:3–6 NET - Balaam said to Balak,…

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Numbers 23:3–6

23:3 Balaam said to Balak, “Station yourself3 by your burnt offering, and I will go off; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he reveals to me4 I will tell you.”5 Then he went to a deserted height.6

23:4 Then God met Balaam, who7 said to him, “I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 23:5 Then the Lord put a message8 in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.”9

23:6 So he returned to him, and he was still10 standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

3	tn The verb הִתְיַצֵּב (hityatsev) means “to take a stand, station oneself.” It is more intentional than simply standing by something. He was to position himself by the sacrifice as Balaam withdrew to seek the oracle.
4	tn Heb “and the word of what he shows me.” The noun is in construct, and so the clause that follows functions as a noun clause in the genitive. The point is that the word will consist of divine revelation.
5	tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. This clause is dependent on the clause that precedes it.
6	sn He went up to a bald spot, to a barren height. The statement underscores the general belief that such tops were the closest things to the gods. On such heights people built their shrines and temples.
7	tn The relative pronoun is added here in place of the conjunction to clarify that Balaam is speaking to God and not vice versa.
8	tn Heb “word.”
9	tn Heb “and thus you shall speak.”
10	tn The Hebrew text draws the vividness of the scene with the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh)—Balaam returned, and there he was, standing there.