Numbers 22:11

Summary

Balak, quoting his own message to Balaam, describes the people who came out of Egypt as covering "the eye of the land," and urges Balaam to come and pronounce a curse on them, in hope that this will allow Balak to fight and expel them. The verse is direct speech embedded in narrative, reporting the words Balak had already sent (cf. 22:5-6).

Key words

• hayyotze' ("has come out", H3318G) — qal participle, masculine singular, describing the people as characterized by an ongoing or completed action of "coming out," rather than a finite past-tense verb.
• vayekhas ("it has covered", H3680) — piel narrative form, intensive stem, continuing the story sequence ("and then it covered").
• 'eyn ha'aretz ("eye of the land", H5869J + H0776G) — feminine singular noun in construct state, forming the idiom "eye/surface of the land," rendered as "face of the land" in translations.
• qavah-li ("curse for me", H6895) — qal imperative with paragogic he for emphasis, plus the preposition li ("for me", H9005+H9030), addressed to Balaam as a direct command.
• lehillachem ("to engage in battle", H3898A) — niphal infinitive, a reflexive/reciprocal stem indicating mutual engagement ("to fight each other"), attached to the preposition le ("to", H9005).

What the text says

The verse opens with the interjection hinneh ("here!", H2009), a device that draws attention to what follows, here introducing the description of the people. The clause ha'am hayyotze mi-mitzrayim uses a participle (hayyotze) rather than a finite verb, presenting "coming out of Egypt" as an ongoing characteristic of the group rather than a single past event. The narrative vav on vayekhas links this to the next clause, "it has covered the eye of the land," using the construct phrase 'eyn ha'aretz, an idiom built on the noun 'ayin ("eye") to describe the visible surface of the land.

The imperatives lekha ("come!") and qavah-li ("curse for me") both carry the paragogic he, a suffix that adds emphasis to the command form. The direct object marker 'oto ("it") refers back to ha'am, treated grammatically as a singular collective. The purpose clause introduced by 'ulai ("perhaps", H0194) expresses uncertainty about the outcome, followed by the niphal infinitive lehillachem, which frames the anticipated fighting as an act of mutual engagement rather than a one-sided action. The final verb gerashti ("I will drive out", H1644G) is a piel sequential perfect, continuing the chain of intended actions after the curse and the fighting.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders qavah-li ("curse for me") differently, stating instead that "this one is encamped against me" (οὗτος ἐνκάθηται μου), diverging from the Hebrew's request for a curse. Where the Hebrew has lehillachem ("to fight," reciprocal), the LXX uses πατάξαι ("to strike"), a more one-directional verb. The Vulgate's maledic ei ("curse him") corresponds closely to the Hebrew qavah-li, while its pugnans abigere ("fighting, to drive away") parallels the Hebrew's combination of lehillachem and gerashti.