Numbers 22:10-39

¹⁰And Balaam said to God, Balac son of Sepphor, king of Moab, sent them to me, saying,

¹¹Behold, a people has come forth out of Egypt, and has covered the face of the land, and it has encamped near to me; and now come, curse it for me, if indeed I shall be able to strike it, and cast it out of the land.

¹²And God said to Balaam, You shall not go with them, neither shall you curse the people; for they are blessed.

¹³And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balac, Depart quickly to your lord; God does not permit me to go with you.

¹⁴And the princes of Moab rose, and came to Balac, and said, Balaam will not come with us.

¹⁵And Balac yet again sent more princes and more honorable than they.

¹⁶And they came to Balaam, and they say to him, Thus says Balac the son of Sepphor: I beseech you, delay not to come to me.

¹⁷For I will greatly honor you, and will do for you whatever you shall say; come then, curse me this people.

¹⁸And Balaam answered and said to the princes of Balac, If Balac would give me his house full of silver and gold, I shall not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord God, to make it little or great in my mind.

¹⁹And now do you° also wait here this night, and I shall know what the Lord will yet say to me.

²⁰And God came to Balaam by night, and said to him, If these men are come to call you, rise and follow them; nevertheless the word which I shall speak to you, it shall you do.

²¹And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.

²²And God was very angry because he went; and the angel of the Lord rose up to withstand him. Now he had mounted his ass, and his two servants were with him.

²³And when the ass saw the angel of God standing opposite in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand, then the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field; and Balaam struck the ass with his staff to direct her in the way.

²⁴And the angel of the Lord stood in the avenues of the vines, a fence being on this side and a fence on that.

²⁵And when the ass saw the angel of God, she thrust herself against the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall, and he struck her again.

²⁶And the angel of the Lord went farther, and came and stood in a narrow place where it was impossible to turn to the right or the left.

²⁷And when the ass saw the angel of God, she lay down under Balaam; and Balaam was angry, and struck the ass with his staff.

²⁸And God opened the mouth of the ass, and she says to Balaam, What have I done to you, that you have struck me this third time?

²⁹And Balaam said to the ass, Because you have mocked me; and if I had had a sword in my hand, I would now have killed you.

³⁰And the ass says to Balaam, Am not I your ass on which you have ridden since your youth till this day? did I ever do thus to you, utterly disregarding you? and he said, No.

³¹And God opened the eyes of Balaam, and he sees the angel of the Lord withstanding him in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand, and he stooped down and worshipped on his face.

³²And the angel of God said to him, Why have you struck your ass this third time? and, behold, I came out to withstand you, for your way was not seemly before me; and when the ass saw me, she turned away from me this third time.

³³And if she had not turned out of the way, surely now, I should have slain you, and should have saved her alive.

³⁴And Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing opposite in the way to meet me; and now if it shall not be pleasing to you for me to go on, I will return.

³⁵And the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, Go with the men: nevertheless the word which I shall speak to you, that you shall take heed to speak. And Balaam went with the princes of Balac.

³⁶And when Balac heard that Balaam was come, he went out to meet him, to a city of Moab, which is on the borders of Arnon, which is on the extreme part of the borders.

³⁷And Balac said to Balaam, Did I not send to you to call you? why have you not come to me? shall I not indeed be able to honor you?

³⁸And Balaam said to Balac, Behold, I am now come to you: shall I be able to say anything? the word which God shall put into my mouth, that I shall speak.

³⁹And Balaam went with Balac, and they came to the cities of streets.