Numbers 22:14-27

¹⁴So the men from Moab returned to King Balak and they reported to him, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

¹⁵But Balak sent another group of leaders to Balaam. It was a group that was larger and they were more important than the men in the first group.

¹⁶They went to Balaam and told him this: “This is what King Balak says: ‘Please do not allow anything to hinder you from coming here.

¹⁷I will pay you ◄a lot of money/very well► if you come, and I will do anything that you ask me to do. Just come and curse these Israeli people for me!’”

¹⁸But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak would give me a palace filled with silver and gold, I would not do anything to disobey Yahweh, ◄my God/the God whom I worship►.

¹⁹But stay here one more night, like the other messengers did, and I will find out if Yahweh has anything more to say to me.”

²⁰That night God appeared to Balaam again and said to him, “These men have come to request that you go back with them, so you may go with them, but do only what I tell you to do!”

²¹So the next morning, Balaam put a saddle on his donkey and he departed with two of his servants along with the men from Moab.

²²Even though God had given Balaam permission to go, he was still angry. So he sent one of his angels to Balaam. This angel stood in the road to block Balaam's path. As Balaam and the two servants were riding on their donkeys,

²³Balaam's donkey saw the angel. The angel was standing in the road and was holding a sword in his hand, but Balaam did not see him. Balaam's donkey turned off the road into a field. So Balaam struck the donkey and forced it to go back onto the road.

²⁴Then the angel stood in a place where the road was very narrow, between two vineyards, with walls on each side of the road.

²⁵When the donkey saw the angel standing there, it walked very close to the wall to try to get past the angel. As a result, it bashed Balaam's foot against the wall. So Balaam struck the donkey again.

²⁶Then the angel went further along the road and stood at a place that was extremely narrow, with the result that the donkey could not get past at all.

²⁷This time, when the donkey saw the angel, it lay down on the ground with Balaam sitting on top of it. Balaam became extremely angry, and he struck the donkey again with his walking stick.