Numbers 22:13

Summary

The verse narrates that Balaam got up in the morning and told Balak's officials to return to their own territory, giving as the reason that Yehovah had refused to permit him to travel with them. The sentence is a short narrative report followed by direct speech explaining the refusal.

Key words

• yaqom ("he arose", H6965B) — qal narrative form (vav-consecutive) marking the first event of the sequence: Balaam's rising.
• me'en ("he has refused", H3985) — piel perfect, an intensive stem giving the refusal added force; as a perfect it presents the refusal as a completed fact prior to the statement.
• letitti ("to permit me", H5414K) — infinitive construct of the verb "to give," prefixed with le and suffixed with the 1st-person pronoun "me" (H9030), literally "to give/grant me," idiomatically "to allow me."
• laholekh ("to go", H1980G) — infinitive construct with prefixed le, forming the complement of the previous infinitive: "to permit me to go."
• sarei ("leaders/officials of", H8269) — masculine plural noun in construct state, linking directly to "Balak" to specify whose officials are addressed.

What the text says

The verse opens with two vav-consecutive verbs, va-yaqom ("and he arose") and va-yomer ("and he said"), which chain the narrative: rising in the morning is immediately followed by speech. This construction is typical of Hebrew narrative sequencing, presenting the actions as sequential rather than simultaneous.

Balaam's speech is introduced with the imperative lekhu ("go", H1980G) directed "to the officials of Balak," using the construct sarei Balaq, which ties the noun "officials" tightly to the proper name. The reason for the command is given by the particle ki ("for/because", H3588A), which introduces a causal clause: me'en Yehovah letitti laholekh 'immakhem — "Yehovah has refused to permit me to go with you." Here two infinitives are stacked: letitti ("to permit me") governs laholekh ("to go"), a common Hebrew pattern where one infinitive supplies the object/complement of another, producing the sense "to allow me to go."

Differences between versions

The Hebrew has Balaam tell the officials to return "to your land" ('artzekhem, H0776G), but the LXX renders this as "to your lord" (πρὸς τὸν κύριον ὑμῶν), a different referent than the Hebrew's geographic term. Additionally, where the Hebrew names Yehovah (H3068G) as the one refusing permission, the LXX uses ὁ θεὸς ("God") rather than its usual rendering κύριος for the divine name, reserving κύριος in this verse for the phrase about the "lord" of the officials. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely, using "terram vestram" ("your land") and "Dominus" ("the Lord") for the refusal.