Numbers 23:11

Summary

Balak confronts Balaam after the prophet's oracle, asking what he has done. Balak recalls that he brought Balaam specifically to curse his enemies, but instead Balaam has blessed them — the Hebrew marking this outcome with special emphasis.

Key words

• 'a.Si.ta ("have you done", H6213A) — qal perfect, 2nd masculine singular; a completed action framed as a question, expressing reproach at what has already occurred.
• la.Kov ("to curse", from H6895) — qal infinitive construct with the preposition le, expressing purpose: "in order to curse."
• le.kach.Ti.kha ("I took you", H3947G) — qal perfect, 1st singular with 2nd masculine singular suffix; states the completed act of summoning Balaam, joined to the infinitive of purpose above.
• be.Rakh.ta ("you have blessed", H1288) — piel perfect, 2nd masculine singular; the intensive piel stem denotes a full, deliberate act of blessing (not a partial or accidental one).
• va.Rekh ("actually bless", H1288) — piel infinitive absolute, repeating the same root as be.Rakh.ta; this doubling construction intensifies or confirms the verb, functioning like "you have indeed blessed" or "you have done nothing but bless."

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative va-yomer ("and he said") introducing direct speech from Balak to Balaam. Balak's first utterance is the interrogative meh 'asita li ("what have you done to me?"), a perfect-tense question that treats Balaam's action as already accomplished and personally affecting him (li, "to me").

Balak then restates his original intent using an infinitive of purpose: la-kov 'oyevai leqachtikha — "to curse my enemies I took you" — where the infinitive la-kov explains why the perfect verb leqachtikha ("I took you") happened. The word order places the purpose clause before the main verb, giving prominence to the intended curse.

The final clause, ve-hinneh berakhta varekh, uses the interjection hinneh ("here!" / "behold") to draw attention sharply to the contrast, followed by the piel perfect berakhta combined with its own infinitive absolute varekh — both from the same root H1288. This infinitive-absolute-plus-finite-verb pattern in Hebrew grammar reinforces or intensifies the verb's action; here it underscores that the blessing was thorough or unmistakable, not partial.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the infinitive absolute construction berakhta varekh as εὐλόγηκας εὐλογίαν ("you have blessed a blessing"), using a cognate noun object rather than a repeated verb form, which conveys similar emphasis through a different grammatical device. The Vulgate renders the same clause as "tu e contrario benedicis eis" ("but on the contrary you bless them"), adding the phrase "on the contrary" (e contrario) to make explicit the contrast that the Hebrew conveys through hinneh and the doubled verb form alone.