Numbers22:22–41

Where the English smooths the original

• הוֹלֵךְ BSB “was going along” renders the participle הוֹלֵךְ (H1980, hālak), but the participle (not the perfect) is load-bearing: it names a continuous, ongoing walking, not the bare fact of departure. Keil and the Pulpit Commentary both insist God’s anger burned not at the act of setting out (which He had permitted, v. 20) but at the manner and motive of the going — the smoothed English flattens that.
• לְשָׂטָן BSB “to oppose him” renders לְשָׂטָן (H7854, śāṭān) — literally “as a satan,” an adversary. The angel of YHWH here takes the office of the satan, the standing opponent in the way. English “to oppose” keeps the function but hides the noun that frames the whole episode (cf. v. 32).
• וַיִּתְיַצֵּב BSB “stood” renders וַיִּתְיַצֵּב (H3320, yātsab, Hitpael) — “took his stand / planted himself,” a deliberate, reflexive taking up of position. Ellicott: “Better, placed (or, stationed) himself.” The flat “stood” loses the resolve in the posture.
• אֲתֹנוֹ BSB “his donkey” renders אֲתֹנוֹ (H860, ʼāthôn), specifically a female donkey — the noun is feminine throughout the scene (Strong’s: “from its docility”). Her sex is not incidental: the gentle, docile she-ass is the one who sees, and the whole irony turns on the contrast between her and her master.

Where the English smooths the original

• שְׁלוּפָה BSB “a drawn sword” renders the passive participle שְׁלוּפָה (H8025, shālap̄) — “unsheathed, pulled out.” The same image — the angel of YHWH standing with sword drawn in his hand — recurs verbatim at Joshua 5:13, where it is the Captain of the LORD’s host; Barnes and Cambridge both make the link.
• וַתֵּט BSB “she turned off” renders וַתֵּט (H5186, nātâh, “to stretch / spread out, to turn aside”). The very root reappears in the same verse as the infinitive lᵉhaṭṭōtāh (“to turn her back”): she turns away to save him; he beats her to turn her back into the danger.
• וַיַּךְ BSB “beat” renders וַיַּךְ (H5221, nākâh, Hiphil) — “struck / smote,” the strong verb of striking down, used elsewhere for a death-blow. The mild English “beat” undercounts the violence the ass will later name (v. 28).

Where the English smooths the original

• בְּמִשְׁעוֹל BSB “in a narrow passage” renders בְּמִשְׁעוֹל (H4934, mishʻôl) — a word so rare it occurs only here; Ellicott: “Better, in the hollow pass of the vineyards.” It is a sunken track between vineyard walls, not merely a narrow road; the English “narrow passage” loses the picture of a man penned between two walls.
• גָּדֵר BSB “walls” renders גָּדֵר (H1447, gādēr) — a vineyard fence / circumvallation, the very word used of the protective hedge in Isaiah 5:5 (Keil notes this). It evokes the enclosed terraces of cultivated Moab, not a city wall.
• מִזֶּה … מִזֶּה BSB “on either side” compresses the doubled מִזֶּה … מִזֶּה (H2088, “from this … from this”) — a Hebrew idiom that paints the symmetry: a wall here, a wall there, the seer caught exactly between. The smoothing keeps the sense but drops the deliberate, hemming repetition.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַתִּלָּחֵץ BSB “pressed herself” renders וַתִּלָּחֵץ (H3905, lāḥats, Niphal) and the next verb “crushing” renders the same root in the Qal, וַתִּלְחַץ. The Hebrew presses the word twice in a single breath — she is squeezed, and she squeezes — the wordplay (passive then active of one verb) is lost when English varies the vocabulary.
• וַיֹּסֶף BSB “once again” renders וַיֹּסֶף (H3254, yāsap̄) — literally “he added to strike her,” the idiom of continuing / repeating an action. The same verb opens v. 26 (“the angel moved on / added”): the man keeps adding blows, the angel keeps adding stations.

Where the English smooths the original

• צָר BSB “narrow place” renders צָר (H6862, tsar) — “narrow, straitened,” the adjective behind the noun tsārâh, “distress / trouble.” The third station is not merely tight; it is the place of no escape, the strait where the seer’s options collapse to none.
• דֶּרֶךְ BSB “room” renders דֶּרֶךְ (H1870, dereḵ) — the same word that has been “the road / the path / the way” throughout (vv. 22–23). Here it means “room to turn,” but the repetition is pointed: there is no longer any way in the way. The English “room” severs the thread the Hebrew keeps.
• לִנְטוֹת BSB “to turn” renders לִנְטוֹת (H5186, nātâh) — again the donkey’s verb from v. 23. She turned aside once; now there is nowhere to turn. The narrowing of the path is told by the narrowing of her one verb.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַתִּרְבַּץ BSB “she lay down” renders וַתִּרְבַּץ (H7257, rāḇats) — to crouch / lie down folded, the posture of a resting animal (Strong’s: “like a recumbent animal”). It is not collapse but a deliberate refusal to move — she settles under him rather than carry him into the sword.
• וַיִּחַר־אַף BSB “he became furious” renders וַיִּחַר־אַף (H2734 + H639) — “his anger burned” — the identical idiom used of God’s anger in v. 22. The narrator deliberately mirrors the two: divine wrath that opposes sin, human wrath that beats the innocent.
• בַּמַּקֵּל BSB “with his staff” renders בַּמַּקֵּל (H4731, maqqēl) — “a rod / staff,” perhaps (Gill notes) his divining staff (cf. Hosea 4:12). The augur strikes his oracle-beast with the very rod of his trade.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיִּפְתַּח BSB “opened” renders וַיִּפְתַּח (H6605, pātaḥ) — “to open / loose.” The same verb will be used in v. 31 of YHWH opening Balaam’s eyes: God opens the dumb beast’s mouth before He opens the seer’s eyes. The English keeps the word but loses that the one opening prepares the other.
• רְגָלִים BSB “times” renders רְגָלִים (H7272, regel) — literally “feet” used idiomatically for “occurrences.” The pun is exact and Hebrew-only: she counts the “three feet” (times) he struck her, the very member of his she crushed against the wall (v. 25); English “times” cannot carry the foot.
• מֶה־עָשִׂיתִי BSB “What have I done” renders מֶה־עָשִׂיתִי (H4100 + H6213) — a genuine, plaintive interrogation of conscience. She does not accuse; she asks. The smoothing is faithful, but the Hebrew word-order fronts the What? — the protest of the wronged innocent.

Where the English smooths the original

• הִתְעַלַּלְתְּ BSB “You have made a fool of me” renders הִתְעַלַּלְתְּ (H5953, ʻālal, Hitpael) — the verb used of how YHWH “made sport of” Egypt (Exodus 10:2; Keil cites it). Balaam charges the ass with the very thing God is in fact doing to him. Gill notes it can mean “defiled / rolled me in the dirt”; English “made a fool” catches one shade only.
• לוּ BSB “If I had” renders לוּ (H3863) — the particle of unreal wish, “O that…!” It exposes the murderous heart: he wishes for a sword. The dramatic irony is total — a drawn sword is in the road before him, in a hand he cannot see.
• הֲרַגְתִּיךְ BSB “I would kill you” renders הֲרַגְתִּיךְ (H2026, hāraḡ) — “to slay,” the word for deliberate killing. The angel will throw it straight back in v. 33: “I would surely have killed (hāraḡtî) you.” The seer’s threat against his beast becomes the sentence over his own head.

Where the English smooths the original

• אָנֹכִי BSB “Am I not” renders the emphatic pronoun אָנֹכִי (H595, ’ānōḵî) — the heavy, self-asserting “I,” the same word God uses for Himself. The ass leads with her whole self: “I — am I not your own donkey?” The English question keeps the sense but mutes the emphatic standing of the speaker.
• מֵעוֹדְךָ BSB “all your life” renders מֵעוֹדְךָ (H5750, ʻôd) — literally “from your still-being / ever since you have been,” i.e. as long as you have lived. Ellicott: “ever since thou livedst.” The donkey appeals to a lifetime of faithful service the smoothing renders only generically.
• הַהַסְכֵּן הִסְכַּנְתִּי BSB “Have I ever treated you this way before?” renders the emphatic הַהַסְכֵּן הִסְכַּנְתִּי (H5532, sāḵan) — infinitive-absolute plus finite verb, “Was I ever in the habit, accustomed…?” The doubled root presses the point: never, not once, in all our years. English “ever” carries the gist but not the Hebrew’s emphatic grammar.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיְגַל BSB “opened” renders וַיְגַל (H1540, gālâh, Piel) — “uncovered / unveiled.” This is a different verb than the “opened” (pātaḥ) of the ass’s mouth in v. 28: God did not give Balaam new eyes but removed the veil from the ones he had. Gill: “rolled away the vail.” English “opened” for both flattens a real distinction in the Hebrew.
• וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ BSB “bowed low” renders וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ (H7812, shāḥâh) — the verb of worshipful prostration, the same act Joshua performs before the Captain of the LORD’s host (Joshua 5:14). The mighty seer, who would not bow to a warning, now falls flat before the drawn sword.
• לְאַפָּיו BSB “facedown” renders לְאַפָּיו (H639, the dual of ’ap̄, “nostrils / face”) — the very noun (’ap̄) that named the anger of God in v. 22 and of Balaam in v. 27. He falls on the ‘nose’ whose burning has driven the whole scene; the wordplay is invisible in English.

Where the English smooths the original

• לְשָׂטָן BSB “to oppose you” renders לְשָׂטָן (H7854) — the identical word from v. 22, where the narrator first called the angel the śāṭān in the road. The angel now names himself by it: “I have come out as a satan.” The episode is sealed by the repeated noun — an inclusio the English “oppose” obscures.
• יָרַט BSB “is perverse” renders יָרַט (H3399, yāraṭ) — a word so rare it occurs only twice in the whole Hebrew Bible (here and Job 16:11). Its sense is contested: Barnes and Keil read “headlong, rushing to destruction”; the Verifier flags it as the rare shared lexeme linking the two verses. “Perverse” is one defensible guess at a near-unknown verb.
• לְנֶגְדִּי BSB “before me” renders לְנֶגְדִּי (H5048, neḡed) — “over against / in front of me.” It is judicial: the way runs headlong in my sight, as God sees it. Keil: “the way which thou art going is leading thee, in my eyes, into destruction.” English “before me” keeps the place but softens the verdict.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַתִּרְאַנִי BSB “saw me” renders וַתִּרְאַנִי (H7200, rāʼâh) — “she saw me.” The verb of sight returns one last time on the lips of the angel: the beast saw; the seer did not. The whole reproof turns on a verb the English keeps but does not weight.
• אוּלַי BSB “If she had not turned away” renders אוּלַי (H194, ’ûlay, normally “perhaps”) — a notoriously hard construction here. Keil and Ellicott read an aposiopesis, a broken-off sentence: “perhaps she turned aside before me…— for otherwise I should surely have killed thee.” The angel hints rather than states the donkey’s motive; the smooth English supplies a clause the Hebrew leaves dangling.
• הָרַגְתִּי BSB “I would surely have killed you” renders הָרַגְתִּי (H2026, hāraḡ) — the same verb Balaam hurled at the ass in v. 29 (“I would kill you”). His own word is turned on him: the one he wished dead would have saved his life; the death he threatened would have been his own.

Where the English smooths the original

• חָטָאתִי BSB “I have sinned” renders חָטָאתִי (H2398, ḥāṭāʼ) — a true confession-word. But the commentators are unanimous: it is hollow. Benson — he confesses the passion, not the covetousness; Poole — he speaks of desisting from the outward act but shows no sense of the plague of his heart. The word is right; the repentance is not.
• לֹא יָדַעְתִּי BSB “I did not realize” renders לֹא יָדַעְתִּי (H3808 + H3045, yādaʻ, “to know”). The seer — the professional knower — pleads ignorance. It is a confession that condemns his whole vocation: the man who claims to know the unseen did not know the angel in his own path.
• רַע בְּעֵינֶיךָ BSB “displeasing in your sight” renders רַע בְּעֵינֶיךָ (H7489 + H5869) — “evil in your eyes.” Balaam reduces a moral verdict to a question of the angel’s preference (“if it displease thee”), as if the journey’s wickedness were a matter of taste. The Hebrew ‘evil’ exposes the dodge the polite English hides.

Where the English smooths the original

• לֵךְ BSB “Go with the men” renders the imperative לֵךְ (H1980, hālak) — the same root as the participle that opened the scene (“he was going,” v. 22). The journey God’s anger burned at is now commanded — not blessed but overruled. Barnes: “A command, not a permission merely.” The commentators split sharply on whether it is concession or sentence.
• וְאֶפֶס BSB “only” renders וְאֶפֶס (H657, ’ep̄es) — a strong restrictive, “nothing but / and yet only.” It is the iron limit on the hired curser: he may go, but his mouth is bound. The plain English “only” undercounts the absoluteness of the constraint.
• אֲדַבֵּר BSB “what I tell you” places the speaking on אֲדַבֵּר (H1696, first person, “I shall speak”). Ellicott marks the wonder: the angel says “the word that I shall speak,” identifying himself with the God who said the same in v. 20 — the messenger speaks as the Sender.

Where the English smooths the original

• עִיר מוֹאָב BSB “the Moabite city” renders עִיר מוֹאָב (H5892 + H4124) — better “Ir-Moab,” the proper name (Ellicott, Pulpit, Cambridge), the same as Ar of Moab (Numbers 21:15). It is not “a city of the Moabites” generically but a named frontier town on the Arnon; the descriptive rendering loses the place.
• בִּקְצֵה הַגְּבוּל BSB “at the edge of his territory” renders בִּקְצֵה הַגְּבוּל (H7097 + H1366) — “at the extremity of the border.” The same noun qᵉtsēh (“end / outskirts”) returns in v. 41, where Balaam sees “the edge of the people.” Balak goes to the edge of his land; from the edge of his land he will show Balaam the edge of Israel.
• לִקְרָאתוֹ BSB “to meet him” renders לִקְרָאתוֹ (H7122, qārâh) — “to encounter / go to meet.” It is the same root that named the angel’s coming “to confront” Balaam (v. 34, liqrāʼtî). The king hurries out to meet the man God’s angel had just gone out to meet — two very different welcomes.

Where the English smooths the original

• שָׁלֹחַ שָׁלַחְתִּי BSB “send you an urgent summons” renders the emphatic שָׁלֹחַ שָׁלַחְתִּי (H7971, shālaḥ) — infinitive-absolute plus finite verb, “sending I sent,” i.e. “I surely / repeatedly sent.” The doubled root carries the king’s wounded urgency; the English “urgent summons” paraphrases what the grammar enacts.
• כַּבְּדֶךָ BSB “reward you richly” renders כַּבְּדֶךָ (H3513, kāḇaḏ, Piel) — “to honour / make weighty.” It is the language of weight and glory (the same root as kāḇôḏ), not money per se. Balak offers to make Balaam heavy with honour — the very weight that has blinded him; “reward richly” names the bribe but loses the word.
• הַאֻמְנָם BSB “Am I really” renders הַאֻמְנָם (H552, ’umnām) — “is it indeed / truly so?” The king’s incredulous pride: truly am I not able to honour you? It frames his whole appeal as wounded vanity, the smoothing keeping the question but flattening the affront.

Where the English smooths the original

• הֲיָכוֹל אוּכַל BSB “but can I say just anything?” renders the emphatic הֲיָכוֹל אוּכַל (H3201, yāḵōl) — infinitive-absolute plus finite, “am I able to be able / have I any power at all?” It is the third doubled-verb in three verses (vv. 37–38): king and seer trade emphatic Hebrew. Balaam confesses, in the very grammar, his utter want of power.
• מְאוּמָה BSB “just anything” renders מְאוּמָה (H3972, mᵉʼûmâh) — “anything at all, a whit.” The word is sweeping: not one syllable is his own to speak. The casual English “just anything” undersells the totality of the limit.
• אֱלֹהִים יָשִׂים BSB “God puts in my mouth” renders אֱלֹהִים יָשִׂים (H430 + H7760, śîm, “to set / place”). The verb is deliberate placement — God sets the word in his mouth, as one sets a stone. It looks pious (JFB: “This appears a pious answer”) but the commentators warn the heart behind it still angles for the fee.

Where the English smooths the original

• קִרְיַת חֻצוֹת BSB “Kiriath-huzoth” transliterates קִרְיַת חֻצוֹת (H7155) — the name means “town of streets / outskirts” (Barnes, JFB, Cambridge). The site is unknown (Cambridge); Keil tentatively links it to Kerioth (Jeremiah 48:24). A proper noun the English rightly keeps, though its meaning ‘city of streets’ is invisible without the gloss.
• וַיֵּלֶךְ BSB “accompanied” renders וַיֵּלֶךְ (H1980, hālak) — “and he went,” the verb that has tracked Balaam from v. 22 (“he was going”) through v. 35 (“Balaam went”). The smoothing to “accompanied” is fine sense, but it quietly drops the recurring ‘going’ that the narrative uses to measure the journey toward judgment.

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיִּזְבַּח BSB “sacrificed” renders וַיִּזְבַּח (H2076, zāḇaḥ) — the verb for slaughtering, often in sacrifice. Ellicott and Poole note it need mean no more than “slew” for a feast, yet the sacrificial sense dominates: a king acting as priest (Ellicott compares Melchizedek). The English “sacrificed” fixes one of two readings the Hebrew holds open.
• וַיְשַׁלַּח BSB “he gave portions” renders וַיְשַׁלַּח (H7971, shālaḥ, Piel) — “he sent,” the very verb Balak used of his repeated sending for Balaam (v. 37). Now he sends not envoys but meat: the courting continues at table. The interpretive “gave portions” is supplied; the Hebrew says only ‘sent.’

Where the English smooths the original

• בָּמוֹת בָּעַל BSB “Bamoth-baal” names בָּמוֹת בָּעַל (H1120 + H1168) — “the high places of Baal.” Keil insists Balak chose it not for its idolatry but because it was the first height from which Israel could be seen; Benson and Gill stress the cultic site. The name holds both: a Baal-sanctuary that is also a vantage for the curse.
• וַיַּרְא BSB “he could see” renders וַיַּרְא (H7200, rāʼâh) — “and he sawsaw; he could not) now returns: at last Balaam sees — but it is Israel he is brought up to see, that he might curse them. Ellicott and Barnes both correct the modal “might see” to the plain “and he saw.”
• קְצֵה הָעָם BSB “the outskirts of the camp of the people” renders קְצֵה הָעָם (H7097 + H5971) — “the edge of the people.” Cambridge and Keil read it as only the nearest fringe, not the whole host (cf. 23:13); the same qᵉtsēh from v. 36. Balak shows him the edge — and even the edge will not curse.