Numbers 22
Living Bible
22 The people of Israel now traveled to the plains of Moab and camped east of the Jordan River opposite Jericho. 2-3 When King Balak of Moab (the son of Zippor) realized how many of them there were, and when he learned what they had done to the Amorites, he and his people were terrified. 4 They quickly consulted with the leaders of Midian.
“This mob will eat us like an ox eats grass,” they exclaimed.
So King Balak 5-6 sent messengers to Balaam (son of Beor) who was living in his native land of Pethor, near the Euphrates River. He begged Balaam to come and help him.
“A vast horde of people has arrived from Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth and are headed toward me,” he frantically explained. “Please come and curse them for me, so that I can drive them out of my land; for I know what fantastic blessings fall on those whom you bless, and I also know that those whom you curse are doomed.”
7 The messengers he sent were some of the top leaders of Moab and Midian. They went to Balaam with money in hand and urgently explained to him what Balak wanted.
8 “Stay here overnight,” Balaam said, “and I’ll tell you in the morning whatever the Lord directs me to say.” So they did.
9 That night God came to Balaam and asked him, “Who are these men?”
10 “They have come from King Balak of Moab,” he replied. 11 “The king says that a vast horde of people from Egypt has arrived at his border, and he wants me to go at once and curse them, in the hope that he can battle them successfully.”
12 “Don’t do it!” God told him. “You are not to curse them, for I have blessed them!”
13 The next morning Balaam told the men, “Go on home! The Lord won’t let me do it.”
14 So King Balak’s ambassadors returned without him and reported his refusal. 15 Balak tried again. This time he sent a larger number of even more distinguished ambassadors than the former group. 16-17 They came to Balaam with this message:
“King Balak pleads with you to come. He promises you great honors plus any payment you ask. Name your own figure! Only come and curse these people for us.”
18 But Balaam replied, “If he were to give me a palace filled with silver and gold, I could do nothing contrary to the command of the Lord my God. 19 However, stay here tonight so that I can find out whether the Lord will add anything to what he said before.”
20 That night God told Balaam, “You may get up and go with these men, but be sure to say only what I tell you to.”
21 So the next morning he saddled his donkey and started off with them. 22-23 But God was angry about Balaam’s eager attitude,[a] so he sent an Angel to stand in the road to kill him. As Balaam and two servants were riding along, Balaam’s donkey suddenly saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword. She bolted off the road into a field, but Balaam beat her back onto the road. 24 Now the Angel of the Lord stood at a place where the road went between two vineyard walls. 25 When the donkey saw him standing there, she squirmed past by pressing against the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot in the process. So he beat her again. 26 Then the Angel of the Lord moved farther down the road and stood in a place so narrow that the donkey couldn’t get by at all. 27 So she lay down in the road! In a great fit of temper Balaam beat her again with his staff.
28 Then the Lord caused the donkey to speak! “What have I done that deserves your beating me these three times?” she asked.
29 “Because you have made me look like a fool!” Balaam shouted. “I wish I had a sword with me, for I would kill you.”
30 “Have I ever done anything like this before in my entire life?” the donkey asked.
“No,” he admitted.
31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes and he saw the Angel standing in the roadway with drawn sword, and he fell flat on the ground before him.
32 “Why did you beat your donkey those three times?” the Angel demanded. “I have come to stop you because you are headed for destruction. 33 Three times the donkey saw me and shied away from me; otherwise I would certainly have killed you by now and spared her.”
34 Then Balaam confessed, “I have sinned. I didn’t realize you were there. I will go back home if you don’t want me to go on.”
35 But the Angel told him, “Go with the men, but say only what I tell you to say.” So Balaam went on with them. 36 When King Balak heard that Balaam was on the way, he left the capital and went out to meet him at the Arnon River, at the border of his land.
37 “Why did you delay so long?” he asked Balaam. “Didn’t you believe me when I said I would give you great honors?”
38 Balaam replied, “I have come, but I have no power to say anything except what God tells me to say; and that is what I shall speak.” 39 Balaam accompanied the king to Kiriathhuzoth, 40 where King Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and gave animals to Balaam and the ambassadors for their sacrifices. 41 The next morning Balak took Balaam to the top of Mount Bamoth-baal, from which he could see the people of Israel spread out before him.
Footnotes
- Numbers 22:22 God was angry about Balaam’s eager attitude, literally, “God was angry because he went.” He said much more than God had told him to. See 25:1-3; 31:16.
Numbers 22
World English Bible
22 The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. 2 Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3 Moab was very afraid of the people, because they were many. Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. 4 Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this multitude will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.”
Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. 5 He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt. Behold, they cover the surface of the earth, and they are staying opposite me. 6 Please come now therefore, and curse this people for me; for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall prevail, that we may strike them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”
7 The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand. They came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak.
8 He said to them, “Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as Yahweh shall speak to me.” The princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.
9 God came to Balaam, and said, “Who are these men with you?”
10 Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has said to me, 11 ‘Behold, the people that has come out of Egypt covers the surface of the earth. Now, come curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them, and shall drive them out.’”
12 God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”
13 Balaam rose up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your land; for Yahweh refuses to permit me to go with you.”
14 The princes of Moab rose up, and they went to Balak, and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.”
15 Balak again sent princes, more, and more honorable than they. 16 They came to Balaam, and said to him, “Balak the son of Zippor says, ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me, 17 for I will promote you to very great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Please come therefore, and curse this people for me.’”
18 Balaam answered the servants of Balak, “If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond the word of Yahweh my God, to do less or more. 19 Now therefore please stay here tonight as well, that I may know what else Yahweh will speak to me.”
20 God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak to you, that you shall do.”
21 Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. 22 God’s anger burned because he went; and Yahweh’s angel placed himself in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 The donkey saw Yahweh’s angel standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the donkey turned out of the path, and went into the field. Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the path. 24 Then Yahweh’s angel stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. 25 The donkey saw Yahweh’s angel, and she thrust herself to the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. He struck her again.
26 Yahweh’s angel went further, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. 27 The donkey saw Yahweh’s angel, and she lay down under Balaam. Balaam’s anger burned, and he struck the donkey with his staff.
28 Yahweh opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”
29 Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have mocked me, I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would have killed you.”
30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long until today? Was I ever in the habit of doing so to you?”
He said, “No.”
31 Then Yahweh opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw Yahweh’s angel standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face. 32 Yahweh’s angel said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me. 33 The donkey saw me, and turned away before me these three times. Unless she had turned away from me, surely now I would have killed you, and saved her alive.”
34 Balaam said to Yahweh’s angel, “I have sinned; for I didn’t know that you stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases you, I will go back again.”
35 Yahweh’s angel said to Balaam, “Go with the men; but you shall only speak the word that I shall speak to you.”
So Balaam went with the princes of Balak. 36 When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him to the City of Moab, which is on the border of the Arnon, which is in the utmost part of the border. 37 Balak said to Balaam, “Didn’t I earnestly send for you to summon you? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I not able indeed to promote you to honor?”
38 Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come to you. Have I now any power at all to speak anything? I will speak the word that God puts in my mouth.”
39 Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath Huzoth. 40 Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes who were with him. 41 In the morning, Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal; and he saw from there part of the people.
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