Balaam said to Balak: This clause begins with the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And”), which some languages may need to make explicit with an appropriate connector (for example, “Then” or “So”). The generic verb said may be rendered “answered” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) to introduce Balaam’s response.

Lo, I have come to you!: Lo renders the Hebrew word hinneh. Here it highlights the following words. Revised English Bible expresses this clause more naturally in English, saying “I have come, as you see.” Another possible model is “Look, here I am!” Good News Translation changes Balaam’s statement into a rhetorical question by saying “I came, didn’t I?” (similarly Bijbel in Gewone Taal, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling). This may be a helpful model in other languages.

Have I now any power at all to speak anything?: This is another rhetorical question. The adverb now (see verse 6) indicates that Balaam is moving on to the point he actually wants to make: even though he is with Balak, he cannot speak what Balak wants him to speak. This question is literally “Now to be able am I able to speak anything?” The Hebrew verb meaning “to be able” is repeated for emphasis, first as an infinitive absolute and then as a finite verb. A good model here is “Now can I really speak anything?” The implied answer to this rhetorical question is “Not at all.” Good News Translation makes this question shorter and perhaps sharper as follows: “But now, what power have I got?” The contrastive conjunction “But” fits well in this context. New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, and New International Readers Version place the adverb now in the previous clause, but given the Hebrew sentence structure here, it is unlikely that this adverb would refer to the time of that clause.

The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak is literally “The word that God puts in my mouth, it I shall speak.” The Hebrew word for “it” emphatically refers back to “the word that God puts in my mouth” (compare verses 20 and 35). New Revised Standard Version expresses well the emphasis here with “The word God puts in my mouth, that is what I must say.” Another possible model is “Only what God tells me to say, that I can speak.” For the fourth time in the Balaam story, the prophet confesses that he can only speak what the LORD tells him to say (so Cole, page 395). Does this repetition give a subtle hint as to how his actual “curses” are going to turn out?

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .