Bilangan 23:12

23:12 Balaam replied, ¹  “Must I not be careful ²  to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?” ³ 

Bilangan 23:26

23:26 But Balaam replied ⁴  to Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord speaks, ⁵  I must do’?”

Bilangan 24:13

24:13 ‘If Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond ⁶  the commandment ⁷  of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own will, ⁸  but whatever the Lord tells me I must speak’?

[23:12]  ¹ tn Heb “he answered and said.” The referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:12]  ² tn The verb שָׁמַר (shamar) means “to guard, watch, observe” and so here with a sense of “be careful” or even “take heed” (so KJV, ASV). The nuance of the imperfect tense would be obligatory: “I must be careful” – to do what? to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth. The infinitive construct “to speak” is therefore serving as the direct object of שָׁמַר.

[23:12]  ³ tn The clause is a noun clause serving as the direct object of “to speak.” It begins with the sign of the accusative, and then the relative pronoun that indicates the whole clause is the accusative.

[23:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[23:26]  ⁵ tn This first clause, “all that the Lord speaks” – is a noun clause functioning as the object of the verb that comes at the end of the verse. It is something of an independent accusative case, since it is picked up with the sign of the accusative: “all that the Lord speaks, it I must do.”

[24:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “I am not able to go beyond.”

[24:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “mouth.”

[24:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “from my heart.”