Numbers 22:9-27

⁹And God came unto Bil'am, and said, Who are these men with thee?

¹⁰And Bil'am said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying,

¹¹Behold, there is the people that is come out of Egypt, and covereth the face of the earth: now come, denounce it for me; peradventure I shall be able to fight against it, and drive it away.

¹²And God said unto Bil'am, Thou shalt not go with them: thou shalt not curse the people; for it is blessed.

¹³And Bil'am rose up in the morning, and said unto the princes of Balak, Go back to your land; for the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you.

¹⁴And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went unto Balak, and said, Bil'am refuseth to come with us.

¹⁵And Balak sent yet again princes, more in number, and more honorable than those.

¹⁶And they came to Bil'am, and said to him, Thus hath said Balak the son of Zippor, Do not suffer thyself, I pray thee, to be prevented from coming unto me;

¹⁷For I will honor thee greatly, and whatsoever thou mayest say unto me will I do: and only come, I pray thee, denounce me this people.

¹⁸And Bil'am answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not transgress the order of the Lord my God, to do a small or a great thing.

¹⁹And now, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the Lord will farther speak with me.

²⁰And God came unto Bil'am at night, and said unto him, If to call thee the men have come, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I shall speak unto thee, that shalt thou do.

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

²²And the anger of God was kindled, because he went; and an angel of the Lord placed himself in the way to be a hindrance to him; and he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.

²³And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Bil'am smote the ass, to make her turn into the way.

²⁴But the angel of the Lord stepped into a path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side, and a wall on that side.

²⁵And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she forced herself against the wall, and pressed Bil'am's foot against the wall: and he smote her again.

²⁶And the angel of the Lord went yet farther, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left.

²⁷And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Bil'am: whereupon Bil'am's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a stick.