Numbers 22:17

Summary

This verse records Balak's promised message to Balaam, delivered through his messengers: an offer of great honor and full compliance with whatever Balaam requests, paired with an urgent double imperative to come and curse the people opposing Balak.

Key words

• kha.Bed ("surely ", H3513G) — infinitive absolute of the piel stem, paired with the following finite verb to create emphasis; it has no independent subject or tense but intensifies the verb that follows.
• 'a.kha.bed ("I will honor", H3513G) — piel imperfect, first person; combined with the preceding infinitive absolute, this construction expresses certainty or emphasis on the action ("I will surely honor").
• me.'Od ("exceedingly", H3966) — an intensifying term modifying the verb of honoring, marking the degree as extreme.
• le.kha ("come", H1980K) — qal imperative with paragogic he (H9012) attached, a suffix that adds emphatic or urgent force to the command.
• ka.va ("curse", H6895) — qal imperative, likewise carrying the paragogic he, forming the second half of the urgent double command "come, curse."

What the text says

The verse opens with the construction ki-khabbed 'akhabbedkha — an infinitive absolute (khabbed) followed by the finite imperfect verb of the same root ('akhabbed, "I will honor," H3513G). This doubling is a common Biblical Hebrew device for emphasis; it does not simply state "I will honor you" but underscores the certainty or intensity of that honoring, further reinforced by me'od ("exceedingly," H3966). The clause has no equivalent single-word translation in English or Spanish, which is why versions render it periphrastically ("sin duda," "richly," "muy bien").

The following clause, vekhol 'asher-tomar 'elay 'e'eseh ("and all that you say to me I will do"), uses a relative clause ('asher, H0834A) governed by khol ("all," H3605) to broaden the promise to any future request, expressed with the qal imperfect 'e'eseh ("I will do," H6213A).

The final clause pairs two qal imperatives, lekha ("come," H1980K) and qavah ("curse," H6895), each carrying a paragogic he (H9012), a suffix that intensifies the command's urgency. The particle na' ("please," H4994) softens the imperative tone into an entreaty. The object of the curse, ha'am hazzeh ("this people," H5971A + H2088), is marked by the direct object marker 'et (H0853), which itself carries no independent meaning in translation.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew infinitive-absolute construction (kabbed 'akhabbedkha, "I will surely/greatly honor") is rendered differently across versions. The LXX uses an adverb-plus-verb combination, ἐντίμως... τιμήσω ("honorably I will honor"), which mirrors the Hebrew's emphatic doubling. The Vulgate instead reads paratus sum honorare te ("I am ready to honor you"), shifting the emphasis from certainty of future action to present readiness — a nuance not present in the Hebrew imperfect form. The Spanish RV1909 ("sin duda te honraré mucho") and English BSB ("I will honor you richly") both attempt to convey intensity through added adverbs rather than verbal repetition.