What Does Numbers 22:16 Mean in the King James?
And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus saith Balak the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
“Hinder” is closer to “hold yourself back”, so the request makes Balaam’s own restraint sound like the barrier.
THE MEANING
The appeal turns restraint into the apparent obstacle between two people. It shows how a polite request can press against what is already clear, making another person’s desire feel like permission.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being earnestly wanted does not prove that a path is right; an appeal can make restraint sound like a flaw.
THE ROOT
תִּמָּנַע
timmānaʿ
GROWS FROM
מנע
to withhold, hold back, or keep from
“hinder” in this verse is timmānaʿ. In this form, the verb means to restrain yourself from an action: the plea asks Balaam to stop holding himself back from going. The same root describes good that is not withheld, linking restraint with whether something reaches the person seeking it.
ALSO GROWS
timmānaʿ: Keep yourself from doing something.
תִּמָּנַע
In this verse, the request frames Balaam’s restraint as what prevents the meeting.
yimnaʿ: Withhold or keep back.
יִמְנַע
Psalm 84:11 uses this form for good that is not withheld, showing the root can describe what is kept from reaching someone.
bal-mānaʿtā: You have not held back.
בַּל־מָנַעְתָּ
Psalm 21:2 uses the same root for a request that is not kept from its recipient.
THE PATTERN
The language of withholding reveals who controls whether a person can reach an encounter or receive what they seek.
And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the LORD hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master.For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.THE THREAD
For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.Numbers uses מנע (manaʿ, “withhold”) reflexively: do not hold yourself back from coming. Psalm 84 uses the same root for what God does not hold back, linking the movement toward another with the question of whether good reaches the one seeking it.
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