Numbers 23:4

Summary

Numbers 23:4 narrates a divine encounter using a passive/reflexive Hebrew verb, followed by Balaam's report of the ritual he performed: he describes arranging seven altars and offering a bull and a ram on "the altar."

Key words

• vayiqqar ("he met", H7136A) — niphal narrative form (passive/reflexive); the grammatical voice presents the encounter as something that happens to Balaam rather than an action he initiates.
• elohim ("God", H0430G) — noun, masculine/plural form, functioning here as the grammatical subject of the singular verb vayiqqar.
• 'et (H0853) — direct object marker, untranslated, that flags shiv'at hammizbechot ("the seven altars") as the object fronted before its verb.
• arakhti ("I have arranged", H6186A) — qal perfect, first person, marking a completed action prior to the moment of speech.
• a'al ("I have offered up", H5927I) — hiphil narrative form, causative, expressing that Balaam caused the offering to "go up," distinct from the simple qal used for "arranging."

What the text says

The verse opens with vayiqqar elohim 'el-bil'am — "and elohim met Balaam." The verb vayiqqar is niphal, a passive/reflexive stem, so the grammar frames the meeting as something occurring to Balaam rather than an act he performs toward God. The subject elohim (H0430G), though morphologically plural, governs a singular verb form, consistent with its use as a divine name in this construction.

The following clause, vayomer elav ("and he said to him"), does not name its subject explicitly in the Hebrew text provided — the identity of the speaker (Balaam) is inferred from the content of the speech that follows, not stated grammatically within this clause. In the reported speech, 'et shiv'at hammizbechot arakhti places the object "the seven altars" before the verb arakhti ("I have arranged," qal perfect), a word order that foregrounds the object. The next clause, va'a'al par va'ayil bammizbeach, uses a hiphil narrative verb a'al ("I caused to go up") for the sacrificial act, and shifts to the singular mizbeach ("altar," H4196) — the same noun that appeared in the plural hammizbechot just before, now referring to a single altar for the actual offering.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the opening verb as ephanē ("appeared"), a different verb than the Hebrew niphal vayiqqar ("was met/encountered"); the two describe the divine-human contact with distinct verbal images. Both the LXX (Βαλαάμ) and the Vulgate (Balaam) explicitly name Balaam as the subject of "said," making explicit what the Hebrew clause vayomer elav leaves without a stated grammatical subject in this segment.