Numbers 22

₁The Israelites went further and they put up their tents in the flatlands of Moab next to the Jordan River near the city of Jericho. ₂They told Balak, son of Zippor, what the Israelites did to the Amorites ₃and then the Moabites became afraid of the Israelites. They were afraid of the Israelites because there were so many of them. ₄The Moabites said to the leaders of the Midian people: ‘All these people will defeat us. They will eat everything around us, like a cow that eats all the green grass in the field.’

Balak, son of Zippor, was king of Moab. ₅He sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Beor, in the town of Pethor in the land of Amaw near the Euphrates River and called him. He told the messengers to tell Balaam: ‘These are the people who came from the land of Egypt. There are many of them, they are all over the land and they are living near us. ₆You must please come and curse them because they are too strong for us. Maybe we can defeat them and chase them out of the land. I know that when you bless someone, good things happen to him and when you curse someone, bad things happen to him.’

₇The leaders of Moab and Midian went to Balaam and they took the reward with them that they had to pay him for cursing the Israelites. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said. ₈Balaam said to them: ‘Sleep here tonight and tomorrow I will tell you what the Lord tells me.’

The officials of Moab slept there with Balaam that night.

₉God came to Balaam and asked him: ‘Who are these men with you?’ ₁₀Balaam said to God: ‘Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me a message and said: ₁₁“There are people here who come from Egypt. There are many people, and they are all over the land. You must come and curse them for me. Then maybe we will win the war_against them and chase them out of our land.” ’

₁₂God said to Balaam: ‘Don't go with these messengers. Don't curse the people who came into the land because I have blessed them.’

₁₃When Balaam got up the next morning, he told the officials of Balak: ‘You must go back to your land. God does not want me to go with you.’

₁₄The officials of Moab then went to Balak and told him: ‘Balaam said he will not come with us.’

₁₅Balak sent officials to Balaam again. There were more officials and they were more important than the first group. ₁₆When the officials came to Balaam, they said to him: ‘Balak, son of Zippor, says: Come to me, and don't let anyone stop you from coming to me. ₁₇I will make you very rich and I will do anything you say. Please come now and curse these people for me.’

₁₈Balaam answered the officials of Balak and said: ‘I must do what the Lord tells me to do, even if Balak gives me his house full of silver and gold. I can not do anything else. I can do only what God says. ₁₉But you must stay here tonight so that I can see if the Lord wants to say anything more to me.’

₂₀That night God came to Balaam and said to him: ‘If the men have come to call you, you must get ready and go with them. But you must do only what I tell you.’

₂₁When Balaam got up the next morning, he put his saddle on his donkey and went with the officials of Balak.

₂₂God became angry when Balaam went with the officials of Balak. The angel of the Lord stood in the way to stop Balaam. He was on his donkey and his 2 servants were with him. ₂₃The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way and the angel had his sword in his hand towards Balaam. The donkey then turned out of the way and walked into the field and Balaam beat the donkey to make it go back into the road. ₂₄Then the angel of the Lord went and stood where the path was narrow, between the vineyards. There was a wall along each side of the path. ₂₅When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she tried to go past Him and she walked near one side and she hurt Balaam's leg against the wall. Balaam beat the donkey again. ₂₆The angel of the Lord went further and He stood in a very narrow place where the donkey could not go past him or turn away to the left or to the right. ₂₇When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord again, she stopped and lay down under Balaam. Balaam became angry and he beat the donkey with a stick. ₂₈The Lord made the donkey speak and the donkey said to Balaam: ‘What have I done wrong? Why have you beaten me 3 times?’

₂₉Balaam told the donkey: ‘You have made me very angry. If I had a sword in my hand, I would have killed you.’ ₃₀The donkey said: ‘I am your donkey and I have always taken you where you wanted to go, until today. Have I turned away like this before?’ Balaam said: ‘No, you have not.’

₃₁Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his sword in his hand towards him. Balaam bowed down with his face to the ground. ₃₂The angel of the Lord said to him: ‘Why have you beaten your donkey 3 times? I have come to stop you because I do not want you to go. ₃₃But the donkey saw me and she turned away 3 times. If she had not turned away, I would have killed you and let the donkey live.’

₃₄Balaam said to the angel of the Lord: ‘I have done wrong. I did not know that it was you standing in front of me in the path. If you do not want me to go further, I will go back.’

₃₅But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam: ‘No, go with these men, but say only what I tell you to say.’

Then Balaam went with the officials of Balak. ₃₆When they told Balak that Balaam had come, he went to meet him at the town of Ar-Moab, near the Arnon River on the furthest border of the land. ₃₇Then Balak said to Balaam: ‘I have called you twice. Why didn't you come the first time? Don't you think I can pay you or make you rich?’

₃₈Balaam said: ‘Here I am. I have come to you, but you must remember that I can not say anything that I want to say. I can say only what God tells me to say.’

₃₉Balaam went with Balak and they went to the town or Kiriath-Huzoth. ₄₀Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep and he sent them to Balaam and the officials with him.

₄₁The next morning Balak took Balaam to the town of Bamoth-Baal. From there Balaam could see some of the tents of the Israelites.