Numbers 23:3

Summary

Balaam instructs Balak to remain beside his burnt offering while he goes apart, expressing hope that Yehovah will meet him and stating he will report whatever is revealed. The verse closes with the narrative note that Balaam went to a bare height.

Key words

• hityatsev ("take your stand", H3320) — hithpael imperative, a reflexive command telling Balak to position himself and remain there.
• 'elekhah ("let me go", H1980G) — first-person volitional form paired with the conjunction ve ("and, so"), expressing Balaam's own intention to depart.
• yiqqareh ("he will meet", H7136A) — niphal imperfect, a passive/reflexive verbal stem indicating that the meeting with Yehovah is something that happens to Balaam rather than something he initiates.
• higgadti ("I will tell", H5046) — hiphil sequential perfect, continuing the chain of action and marking a causative sense ("cause to be told/declared").
• shefi ("a bare height", H8205) — masculine singular noun describing the place Balaam goes at the end of the verse.

What the text says

The verse is built as direct speech introduced by the narrative va-yomer ("and he said", H0559), followed by Balaam's instructions to Balak using the hithpael imperative hityatsev — a form built on the reflexive stem, so the command is literally "station yourself." Balaam then uses the cohortative-type form 'elekhah, expressing his own resolve to depart. The clause about Yehovah uses the niphal yiqqareh, a passive-reflexive stem: the text presents the meeting as something that may occur to Balaam, not something he causes. The interrogative mah ("whatever") governs the hiphil imperfect yar'eni ("he will show me"), and the sequence closes with the hiphil sequential perfect higgadti ("I will tell"), which continues the narrative chain begun with the vav. The final clause uses the narrative vav with va-yelekh ("and he went") and the noun shefi, describing the destination as a bare or solitary height.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the divine name as ὁ θεὸς ("the God") where the Hebrew has YHWH (H3068G). The LXX also adds material not present in the Hebrew word list: a clause stating that Balak stood by his sacrifice and that Balaam went "to inquire of God" (ἐπερωτῆσαι τὸν θεόν), and it describes the path as εὐθεῖαν ("straight") where the Hebrew shefi ("bare height", H8205) designates a physical elevated or solitary place. The Vulgate (VULCLEM) preserves Dominus for the divine name but the provided text ends after "loquar tibi," lacking a rendering of the final Hebrew clause about going to a shefi.