Numbers 23:18

Summary

The verse introduces a poetic oracle spoken by Balaam, opening with a call for Balak to stand and listen. The Hebrew presents two narrative verbs framing the speech act, followed by three imperatives addressed directly to Balak, identified by his patronymic "son of Zippor."

Key words

• va-yyissa ("and he lifted up", H5375N) — qal narrative form; "to lift up" is idiomatic in Hebrew for pronouncing or taking up a mashal.
• mashal-o ("his oracle", H4912 + H9023) — construct noun with possessive suffix; a mashal denotes a formal, elevated speech-type (proverb, oracle, poetic discourse), not ordinary speech.
• qum ("arise", H6965B) — qal imperative, second masculine singular; a command of address, not necessarily physical standing but rhetorical summons to attention.
• ha'azinah ("give ear", H0238) — hiphil (causative) imperative with paragogic he, an ending that intensifies or emphasizes the command, common in elevated poetic style.
• beno Tzippor ("son of Zippor", H1121A + H9023 + H6834) — construct chain identifying Balak by patronymic; the suffix -o ("his") attaches to ben ("son"), followed by the proper name in apposition.

What the text says

The verse divides into a narrative frame and a direct speech. The frame uses two verbs in the narrative (vav-consecutive) form: va-yyissa ("and he lifted up") governing the noun mashal-o ("his oracle"), and va-yomar ("and he said", H0559) introducing the quoted speech. The construction "lifted up his oracle" is a fixed Hebrew idiom for beginning a formal poetic utterance, distinct from ordinary verbs of speaking.

The quoted speech itself opens with three consecutive imperatives: qum ("arise"), shama' ("hear", H8085G), and ha'azinah ("give ear"). The first two are plain qal imperatives; the third is hiphil, a causative stem, and carries a paragogic he ending — a grammatical feature that in Biblical Hebrew poetry often marks heightened or solemn address rather than adding new causative meaning to the act of hearing. This piling of near-synonymous imperatives (arise / hear / give ear) is a rhetorical intensification typical of oracular poetic style.

The addressee, Balak, is named twice in different ways: first by his proper name Balak (H1111), then by the patronymic phrase beno Tzippor — literally "his son, Zippor," a construct chain functioning as "son of Zippor," identifying him by his father's name.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the sequence of imperatives differently, inserting a term absent from the Hebrew construct chain: μάρτυς ("witness") appears where the Hebrew has only the patronymic beno Tzippor ("son of Zippor"), without any word corresponding to "witness." The Vulgate, with fili Sephor ("son of Sephor"), follows the Hebrew construct chain more closely, as does the Hebrew itself, showing that the LXX's wording diverges from both the Hebrew and the Vulgate at this point.