Passage

Numbers 22.22

Book: Numbers · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"20. And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men are come to call thee, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak unto thee, that shalt thou do. 21. And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab."

"22. And God's anger was kindled because he went; and the angel of Jehovah placed himself in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him."

"23. And the ass saw the angel of Jehovah standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way. 24. Then the angel of Jehovah stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side." (Numbers 22:20-24, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"20. God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak to you, that you shall do.” 21. Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab."

"22. God’s anger burned because he went; and Yahweh’s angel placed himself in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him."

"23. The donkey saw Yahweh’s angel standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the donkey turned aside out of the way, and went into the field. Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the way. 24. Then Yahweh’s angel stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side." (Numbers 22:20-24, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"20. And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do. 21. And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab."

"22. And God's anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him."

"23. And the ass saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way. 24. But the angel of the LORD stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side." (Numbers 22:20-24, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"20. And God cometh in unto Balaam, by night, and saith to him, 'If to call for thee the men have come, rise, go with them, and only the thing which I speak unto thee, it thou dost do.' 21. And Balaam riseth in the morning, and saddleth his ass, and goeth with the princes of Moab,"

"22. and the anger of God burneth because he is going, and a messenger of Jehovah stationeth himself in the way for an adversary to him, and he is riding on his ass, and two of his servants [are] with him,"

"23. and the ass seeth the messenger of Jehovah standing in the way, and his drawn sword in his hand, and the ass turneth aside out of the way, and goeth into a field, and Balaam smiteth the ass to turn it aside into the way. 24. And the messenger of Jehovah standeth in a narrow path of the vineyards, a wall on this [side] and a wall on that --" (Numbers 22:20-24, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.