Numbers 22:10

Summary

Numbers 22:10 records Balaam's response to God, in which he reports what Balak sent to tell him. The verse consists of a narrative introduction ("Balaam said to God") followed by the direct speech Balaam quotes, identifying Balak by his patronymic and royal title.

Key words

• va-yomer ("and he said", H0559) — qal verb in narrative form (vav-consecutive), marking this as the next event in the sequence of the story; the subject "he" refers to Balaam.
• Bil'am ("Balaam", H1109A) — proper noun, the subject of the speech-verb, explicitly named rather than left implicit in the verb form.
• ha-'Elohim ("the God", H0430G) — noun with definite article, marking the addressee of Balaam's speech; grammatically plural in form though referring to a single addressee, as is standard for this noun in Hebrew.
• ben-Tzippor ("son of Zippor", H1121A + H6834) — construct noun chain identifying Balak's father, functioning as a patronymic.
• melekh Mo'av ("king of Moab", H4428G + H4124G) — construct noun chain giving Balak's title and the territory over which it applies.
• shalach ("he sent", H7971G) — qal perfect verb, indicating a completed action; Balak's sending is presented as an accomplished fact within Balaam's quoted report.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative verb va-yomer ("and he said"), followed immediately by the subject Bil'am, then the prepositional phrase 'el-ha-'Elohim ("to the God"), which identifies the addressee. This narrative frame is brief — only four words — before the quoted speech begins. The quoted material that follows names Balak through a chain of construct phrases: Balak ben-Tzippor melekh Mo'av ("Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab"), stacking his personal name, patronymic, and title before the verb shalach ("he sent") appears. This ordering places all identifying information about Balak before the verb describing his action, a common feature of Hebrew narrative when introducing or re-identifying a character within reported speech. The prepositional phrase 'elai ("to me", H0413 + H9030) closes the clause, marking Balaam as the recipient of Balak's sent message.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text has no equivalent of a verb like "answered" — it uses simply va-yomer ("and he said"). The LXX (Swete text as given) omits an introductory verb altogether in this fragment, showing only "καὶ Βαλαάμ πρὸς τὸν θεόν" ("and Balaam to God") followed directly by Balak's identification, then adding λέγων ("saying") after "Moab," which is not present in this position in the Hebrew. The Vulgate renders the opening as "Respondit" ("he answered"), a verb of response not explicit in the Hebrew va-yomer ("and he said"). Modern translations (RV1909, BSB, SBLIBRE) similarly add "answered" or "responded," interpretive choices not directly present in the base Hebrew verb form.