The donkey saw Yahweh’s angel, and she lay down under Balaam. Balaam’s anger burned, and he struck the donkey with his staff.
Parallel Translations
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The donkey saw Yahweh’s angel, and she lay down under Balaam. Balaam’s anger burned, and he struck the donkey with his staff.
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And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.
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And the ass saw the angel of the LORD, and she lay down under Balaam; and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with his staff.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Numbers 22:27 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 14:16 A wise man fears and shuns evil, but the fool is hot headed and reckless.
- James 1:19 So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
- Proverbs 27:3-4 A stone is heavy, and sand is a burden; but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both. Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; but who is able to stand before jealousy?
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (4 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, fell.
Or, fell.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 22:27 And when the ass saw the angel…
Num 22:27 And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.
Ver. 27. She fell down under Balaam.] And so "condemned" her master’s "madness." {2Pe 2:16} Polybius in his history saith, Whereas man is held the wisest of all sublunary creatures, to me he seemeth the most foolish of all. For whereas other creatures, when they have once smarted, will come no more there, - as the fox returns not rashly to the snare, the wolf to the pitfall, the dog to the club, the horse to the hole where he hath been stalked, &c., - solus homo ab aevo ad aevum peccat fere in iisdem; man only falls into the same offence and mischief from day to day, and will not be warned till he be utterly ruined, as it befell Balaam.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the ass said unto Balaam,.... Made a reply…
And the ass said unto Balaam,.... Made a reply to him, as if it understood what he said, and had the faculty of reasoning and discoursing, as well as of speaking, which is very amazing:
am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? or rather, "ever since thou wast"; not ever since he was in being, but ever since he could ride, so Aben Ezra; according to which, it seems that this was the first he rode upon, and which he had always been used to; hence the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase it,"upon which thou hast rode from thy youth unto this day;''and be it that Balaam was a man pretty well advanced in years, an ass is a creature that lives a long time: Pliny says (r) it lives thirty years; and an Arabic writer (s) makes mention of an ass that the owner of it rode on forty years:
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was I ever wont to do so unto thee? to start out of the way, or lie down with him, could anyone instance be given of it? suggesting that she was a sure footed creature, and had always carefully and safely carried him, for which it appeals to him:
and he said, nay; she had never been used to serve him in such a manner as she had now, and therefore he might have concluded that something more than ordinary was the matter; and it is much his conscience had not accused him that he was wrong in coming with the princes, taking the alarm from these circumstances, had he not been an hardened creature, or, at least, had he not been so eagerly bent on riches and honour.
(r) Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 43. (s) Algiahid in Damir. apud Bochart, ut supra, (Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 14.) col. 195.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 27. Balaam’s anger was kindled — Although he was…
27. Balaam’s anger was kindled — Although he was saved from instant death by the falling down of the ass, (Num_22:33,) like all unbelievers restrained from the pit of woe by divine chastisements, he is enraged at the means of his own deliverance.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.