אֱמֹ֗ר כֹּ֥ה אָמַ֛ר אֲדֹנָ֥י יְהֹוִ֖ה תִּצְלָ֑ח הֲלוֹא֩ אֶת־שָׁרָשֶׁ֨יהָ יְנַתֵּ֜ק וְאֶת־פִּרְיָ֣הּ ׀ יְקוֹסֵ֣ס וְיָבֵ֗שׁ כָּל־טַרְפֵּ֤י צִמְחָהּ֙ תִּיבָ֔שׁ וְלֹֽא־בִזְרֹ֤עַ גְּדוֹלָה֙ וּבְעַם־רָ֔ב לְמַשְׂא֥וֹת אוֹתָ֖הּ מִשָּׁרָשֶֽׁיהָ׃
Dis: Ainsi parie le Seigneur Dieu: Prospérera-t-elle? N’arrachera-t-il pas ses racines, ne coupera-t-il pas son fruit de sorte qu’il se dessèche; toutes les feuilles produites par elles ne seront-elles pas fanées? Et il n’aura pas besoin d’un bras puissant ni d’un peuple nombreux pour l’arracher de ses racines.
Radak
ויהי...מצידו, as if the Torah had written מצודו, “from his hunting expedition.” The Torah chose a noun instead of a verb in its infinitive form. We find a similar construction in Numbers 10,2 ולמסע את המחנות, which means the same as ולהסיע את המחנות, “and to set the camps (army groups) in motion.” We also find such a construction in Ezekiel 17,9 למשאות אותה משרשיה, “and to remove it from its roots.” A third example which comes to mind is Numbers 23,10 ומספר את רבע ישראל, “or number the animals born to the livestock of Israel?” The word מספר is used there as if the Torah (Bileam) had said לספר, “to count.” [I assume that when the Torah quotes a human being, such as here, G’d dictated Bileam’s words to Moses, seeing that neither Moses nor any other Jew had heard a single one of Bileam’s blessings. Ed.]