Numbers 22:6

Summary

Balak sends word urging Balaam to come and curse Israel, whom he calls "too mighty" for him. He states his reasoning: if Balaam curses them, Balak may be able to strike and expel them from the land, because he knows that Balaam's blessing and cursing take effect on whoever receives them.

Key words

• lekha ("come", H1980K) — qal imperative with paragogic he (H9012) added for emphasis, intensifying the summons "come!"
• 'arah ("curse", H0779) — qal imperative, also carrying paragogic he; paired with na' ("please", H4994) it softens the command into a plea.
• 'atzum ("mighty", H6099) — masculine singular adjective describing the people as physically/numerically overpowering, the stated justification for the request.
• tevarekh ("you bless", H1288) — piel imperfect, an active, intensive form: "you actively bless."
• mevorakh ("is blessed", H1288) — same root H1288 but pual passive participle: "is/becomes blessed," describing the resulting state rather than the action.

What the text says

The verse opens with ve-'atah ("and now", H9002+H6258), a discourse marker shifting from narrative background to direct speech, introducing Balak's request. The double imperative construction lekha-na' 'arah-li ("come, please, curse for me") stacks two qal imperatives, each carrying the emphatic paragogic he ending, which Biblical Hebrew grammar often uses to intensify a volitional command. The preposition li ("for me", built on H9012+H9030) marks Balak as the beneficiary of the curse.

The clause ki 'atzum hu' mimeni ("for it/he is mighty from me", H3588A + H6099 + H1931 + H4480A) uses a comparative construction with min ("from/than") attached to the pronoun "me," a standard Hebrew way of forming comparisons — literally "mighty more than me."

The final sentence pairs verb stems deliberately: tevarekh (piel, active "you bless") is followed by mevorakh (pual, passive "is blessed"), and ta'or (qal imperfect, "you curse", H0779) is followed by yu'ar (hophal imperfect, passive "he is cursed", same root H0779). This root-repetition with stem-shift (active verb followed by its passive counterpart from the same root) creates a rhetorical figura etymologica, tying Balaam's action directly to its outcome using shared roots rather than separate vocabulary.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the comparative clause as ἰσχύει οὗτος ἢ ἡμεῖς ("this one is stronger than us"), shifting the Hebrew's first-person singular mimeni ("than me") to a plural "than us," where the Hebrew text has only "me" (Balak speaking of himself alone). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew's singular with fortior me est ("stronger than me"). The LXX and Vulgate also render the final root-paired construction (tevarekh...mevorakh / ta'or...yu'ar) using distinct verb forms (εὐλογήσῃς...εὐλόγηνται; benedixeris...benedictus) rather than reproducing the Hebrew's tight active/passive same-root pairing.