Bilangan 23:8

23:8 How ¹  can I curse ²  one whom God has not cursed,

or how can I denounce one whom the Lord has not denounced?

Ulangan 23:4-5

23:4 for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired ³  Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you. 23:5 But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam and changed ⁴  the curse to a blessing, for the Lord your God loves ⁵  you.

Ulangan 23:1

Purity in Public Worship

23:1 A man with crushed ⁶  or severed genitals ⁷  may not enter the assembly of the Lord. ⁸ 

1 Samuel 14:28-29

14:28 Then someone from the army informed him, “Your father put the army under a strict oath ⁹  saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food today!’ That is why the army is tired.” 14:29 Then Jonathan said, “My father has caused trouble for the land. See how my eyes gleamed ¹⁰  when I tasted just a little of this honey.

1 Samuel 17:43

17:43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you are coming after me with sticks?” ¹¹  Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

1 Samuel 17:2

17:2 Saul and the Israelite army ¹²  assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they arranged their battle lines to fight against ¹³  the Philistines.

1 Samuel 16:12

16:12 So Jesse had him brought in. ¹⁴  Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”

Nehemia 13:2

13:2 for they had not met the Israelites with food ¹⁵  and water, but instead had hired Balaam to curse them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into blessing.)

Mazmur 109:28

109:28 They curse, but you will bless. ¹⁶ 

When they attack, they will be humiliated, ¹⁷ 

but your servant will rejoice.

[23:8]  ¹ tn The figure is erotesis, a rhetorical question. He is actually saying he cannot curse them because God has not cursed them.

[23:8]  ² tn The imperfect tense should here be classified as a potential imperfect.

[23:4]  ³ tn Heb “hired against you.”

[23:5]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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.

[23:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “bruised by crushing,” which many English versions take to refer to crushed testicles (NAB, NRSV, NLT); TEV “who has been castrated.”

[23:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “cut off with respect to the penis”; KJV, ASV “hath his privy member cut off”; English versions vary in their degree of euphemism here; cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, NLT “penis”; NASB “male organ”; NCV “sex organ”; CEV “private parts”; NIV “emasculated by crushing or cutting.”

[23:1]  ⁸ sn The Hebrew term translated “assembly” (קָהָל, qahal) does not refer here to the nation as such but to the formal services of the tabernacle or temple. Since emasculated or other sexually abnormal persons were commonly associated with pagan temple personnel, the thrust here may be primarily polemical in intent. One should not read into this anything having to do with the mentally and physically handicapped as fit to participate in the life and ministry of the church.

[14:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “your father surely put the army under an oath.” The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb to emphasize the solemn nature of the oath.

[14:29]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX reads “saw.” See v. 27.

[17:43]  ¹¹ sn Sticks is a pejorative reference to David’s staff (v. 40); the same Hebrew word (מַקֵּל, maqqel) is used for both.

[17:2]  ¹² tn Heb “the men of Israel” (so KJV, NASB); NAB, NIV, NRSV “the Israelites.”

[17:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “to meet.”

[16:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he sent and brought him.”

[13:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “bread.” The Hebrew term is generic here, however, referring to more than bread alone.

[109:28]  ¹⁶ tn Another option is to translate the imperfect as a prayer/request (“may you bless”).

[109:28]  ¹⁷ tn The verbal sequence is perfect + prefixed form with vav (ו) consecutive. Since the psalmist seems to be anticipating the demise of his enemies, he may be using these forms rhetorically to describe the enemies’ defeat as if it were already accomplished. Some emend the text to קָמוּ יֵבֹשׁוּ (qamu yevoshu, “may those who attack me be humiliated”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 75.