Then the Israelites said to him, “We will go along the highway, and if we ¹  or our cattle drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We will only pass through on our feet, without doing anything else.”

And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed herself into the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he beat her again. ¹ 

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?”

The donkey saw me and turned from me these three times. If ¹  she had not turned from me, I would have killed you but saved her alive.”

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 ¹  is perverse before me. ²