22:28 Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?” 22:29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “You have made me look stupid; I wish 1 there were a sword in my hand, for I would kill you right now.” 22:30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am not I your donkey that you have ridden ever since I was yours until this day? Have I ever attempted 2 to treat you this way?” 3 And he said, “No.” 22:31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his sword drawn in his hand; so he bowed his head and threw himself down with his face to the ground. 4 22:32 The angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Look, I came out to oppose you because what you are doing 5 is perverse before me. 6 22:33 The donkey saw me and turned from me these three times. If 7 she had not turned from me, I would have killed you but saved her alive.” 22:34 Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood against me in the road. 8 So now, if it is evil in your sight, 9 I will go back home.” 10 22:35 But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you may only speak 11 the word that I will speak to you.” 12 So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
1 tn The optative clause is introduced with the particle לוּ (lu).
2 tn Here the Hiphil perfect is preceded by the Hiphil infinitive absolute for emphasis in the sentence.
3 tn Heb “to do thus to you.”
4 tn The Hishtaphel verb חָוָה (khavah) – שָׁחָה (shakhah) with metathesis – has a basic idea of “bow oneself low to the ground,” and perhaps in some cases the idea of “coil up.” This is the normal posture of prayer and of deep humility in the ancient religious world.
5 tn Heb “your way.”
6 tn The verb יָרַט (yarat) occurs only here and in Job 16:11. Balaam is embarking on a foolish mission with base motives. The old rendering “perverse” is still acceptable.
7 tc Many commentators consider אוּלַי (’ulay, “perhaps”) to be a misspelling in the MT in place of לוּלֵי (luley, “if not”).
8 sn Balaam is not here making a general confession of sin. What he is admitting to is a procedural mistake. The basic meaning of the word is “to miss the mark.” He now knows he took the wrong way, i.e., in coming to curse Israel.
9 sn The reference is to Balaam’s way. He is saying that if what he is doing is so perverse, so evil, he will turn around and go home. Of course, it did not appear that he had much of a chance of going forward.
10 tn The verb is the cohortative from “return”: I will return [me].
11 tn The imperfect tense here can be given the nuance of permission.
12 tn The Hebrew word order is a little more emphatic than this: “but only the word which I speak to you, it you shall speak.”