Numbers 22:18

Summary

Balaam responds to Balak's servants, stating that even if Balak offered him a house full of silver and gold, he would not be able to transgress the command of Yehovah his God, whether in a small or great matter.

Key words

• ya'an ("he answered", H6030B) — qal narrative verb, marks the sequential action opening the reported speech.
• im-yiten ("if he will give", H0518A + H5414G) — conditional particle with qal imperfect, sets up a hypothetical case: even under the condition of a generous gift.
• lo' 'ukhal ("I will not be able", H3808 + H3201) — negation plus qal imperfect, expresses incapacity rather than mere refusal.
• la'avor et-pi Yehovah 'elohai ("to transgress the mouth of Yehovah my God", H5674D + H6310I + H3068G + H0430G) — infinitive construct governing a construct chain; pi ("mouth of") is used idiomatically for "command" or "word."
• ketannah 'o gedolah ("a small [thing] or a large [thing]", H6996A + H1419A) — two feminine adjectives functioning as substantives, forming a merism covering the full range of possible actions.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of qal narrative verbs (ya'an, yomer) that introduce Balaam's direct speech to Balak's servants. Within that speech, the conditional particle im introduces a hypothetical scenario using the imperfect yiten ("he will give"), describing Balak's potential gift as melo' veito kesef ve-zahav — literally "the fullness of his house, silver and gold," a construct chain that piles up nouns to express abundance rather than a simple quantity.

The main clause of Balaam's response uses lo' 'ukhal, a negated imperfect that expresses inability (“I will not be able”) rather than a direct refusal (“I will not”). This inability is directed at the infinitive la'avor ("to transgress"), which governs the object marked by 'et before the construct phrase pi Yehovah 'elohai — literally "the mouth of Yehovah my God." The noun pi ("mouth of", H6310I) is a construct form used idiomatically to denote spoken command or word, not a literal body part.

The final phrase, la'asot ketannah 'o gedolah ("in doing a small [thing] or a large [thing]"), uses two feminine singular adjectives without an explicit noun, functioning substantively. Paired with 'o ("or"), they form a merism — a rhetorical device using two opposite terms to indicate an entire range — meaning "in any matter, however small or great."

Differences between versions

The Hebrew pi Yehovah ("the mouth of Yehovah") is rendered in the LXX as to rhēma kyriou ("the word/utterance of the Lord"), replacing the body-part idiom with an abstract noun. The Vulgate similarly uses verbum Domini ("the word of the Lord"). The LXX adds the phrase en tē dianoia mou ("in my mind/intention"), which has no counterpart in the Hebrew text as segmented here. The Vulgate's ut vel plus, vel minus loquar ("that I might speak either more or less") diverges from the Hebrew's la'asot ("to do"), shifting the verb from doing to speaking.