Numbers 23:6

Summary

The verse narrates Balaam's return to Balak after the oracle-seeking episode: he comes back and finds Balak still standing beside his burnt offering, together with all the officials of Moab. The clause structure marks a shift from Balaam's absence to the scene he encounters upon return.

Key words

• vaYashov ("he returned", H7725G) — qal narrative verb, opening the clause and advancing the storyline ("and then he returned").
• hinneh ("there!", H2009) — interjection marking a shift in viewpoint, presenting the scene as suddenly perceived by the returning subject.
• nitzav ("standing", H5324) — niphal participle, describing an ongoing state (Balak was in the position of "having been made to stand" / remaining stationed) rather than a completed action.
• olato ("his burnt offering", H5930A construct + suffix) — construct noun with possessive suffix, tying the offering directly to the person beside it.
• sarei ("leaders of", H8269 construct) — plural construct noun requiring a following genitive (here Mo'av), identifying the officials by their association with Moab.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built in two movements joined by ve- ("and"). The first movement, vaYashov elav ("and he returned to him"), uses the narrative vav form of shuv to carry the plot forward: someone comes back to another party. The pronominal suffix on elav ("to him") assumes the reader already knows who is being returned to, without naming Balak explicitly in this verse. The second movement opens with ve-hinneh ("and behold"), a formula that shifts perspective to what the returning subject sees: a scene already in progress, expressed through the niphal participle nitzav ("standing"), which frames Balak's position as a static state observed at the moment of arrival rather than as a new action.

The phrase al-olato ("beside his burnt-offering") uses the construct form of olah with a suffix, linking the offering possessively to the person standing near it. The final clause, hu ve-khol-sarei Mo'av ("he and all the leaders of Moab"), uses the construct chain sarei Mo'av ("leaders of Moab") to specify the group accompanying him, with kol ("all") quantifying the totality of that group.

Differences between versions

The LXX adds a clause not present in the Hebrew text given here: καὶ ἐγενήθη πνεῦμα ἐπ' αὐτῷ ("and a spirit came upon him"), extending the verse beyond what the Hebrew states. The LXX also renders the return as ἀπεστράφη αὐτόν ("he turned away/back to him"), a slightly different verbal nuance than the Hebrew vaYashov elav ("and he returned to him"). The Vulgate compresses the two Hebrew clauses (vaYashov elav and ve-hinneh nitzav) into a single verb pair, Reversus invenit stantem ("having returned, he found [him] standing"), and explicitly supplies the name "Balac," which the Hebrew leaves implicit through the pronominal suffix on elav.