Bible Strands
Numbers 22:23
When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the path and went into a field. So Balaam beat her to return her to the path.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the moment Balaam rides his donkey toward a narrow road while God’s anger is kindled against him. The donkey first encounters the angel of the LORD blocking the path with a drawn sword.
The words — The text uses נִצָּ֣ב (ni.Tzav), literally "standing," to mark the angel’s fixed, obstructive posture. It pairs this with וְ/חַרְבּ֤/וֹ (ve./char.B/o), "and sword his," to specify the drawn weapon threatening passage.
The thread — The event resurfaces in New Testament warnings where Jude 1:11 cites Balaam’s error for profit and 2 Peter 2:16 notes the donkey’s rebuke. 1 Corinthians 1:27 echoes the pattern by showing God using the weak to shame the wise.
Why it lands — The text states that physical obstruction may signal divine opposition before human perception registers it. Readers must examine whether they are forcing forward in rebellion rather than yielding to a blocked path.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Jude 1:11 Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed for profit into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.
- 1 Corinthians 1:27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
- 2 Peter 2:16 But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
- 2 Kings 6:17 Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
- 1 Chronicles 21:16 When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.
- Jeremiah 8:7 Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons. The turtledove, the swift, and the thrush keep their time of migration, but My people do not know the requirements of the LORD.
- Daniel 10:7 Only I, Daniel, saw the vision; the men with me did not see it, but a great terror fell upon them, and they ran and hid themselves.
- Acts 22:9 My companions saw the light, but they could not understand the voice of the One speaking to me.