What Does Numbers 22:16 Mean?
And they came to Balaam and said to him, Thus says Balak son of Zippor, Let nothing, I ask you, hold you back from coming to me.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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 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
“hold you back” 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 to them, Do not hold me back, since the LORD has made my road break through; send me away that I may go to my master.For the LORD God is sun and shield. The LORD gives favor and weight. He will hold back no good from those who walk in wholeness.But when Jesus saw it, he was vexed, and said to them, Let the little children come to me, and do not hold them back, for the governance of God belongs to such as these.THE THREAD
For the LORD God is sun and shield. The LORD gives favor and weight. He will hold back no good from those who walk in wholeness.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.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us