Bilangan 23:11

Balaam Relocates

23:11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but on the contrary ¹  you have only blessed them!” ² 

Ulangan 23:5

23:5 But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam and changed ³  the curse to a blessing, for the Lord your God loves ⁴  you.

[23:11]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text uses הִנֵּה (hinneh) here to stress the contrast.

[23:11]  ² tn The construction is emphatic, using the perfect tense and the infinitive absolute to give it the emphasis. It would have the force of “you have done nothing but bless,” or “you have indeed blessed.” The construction is reminiscent of the call of Abram and the promise of the blessing in such elaborate terms.

[23:5]  ³ tn Heb “the Lord your God changed.” The phrase “the Lord your God” has not been included in the translation here for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy. Moreover, use of the pronoun “he” could create confusion regarding the referent (the Lord or Balaam).

[23:5]  ⁴ tn The verb אָהַב (’ahav, “love”) here and commonly elsewhere in the Book of Deuteronomy speaks of God’s elective grace toward Israel. See note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37.