1 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.
2 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.
3 tn The verb is the cohortative from “return”: I will return [me].
4 tn The imperfect tense here can be given the nuance of permission.
5 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.”