Bible Strands
Numbers 22:32
The angel of the LORD asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you, because your way is perverse before me.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The angel of the LORD speaks to Balaam immediately after Balaam’s eyes are opened to see him standing on the road with a drawn sword. The confrontation occurs directly after the donkey’s third refusal to move forward.
The words — מַלְאַ֣ךְ (mal'akh) translates as "angel," and הִכִּ֙יתָ֙ (hikkita) means "you struck" or "you beat." These terms anchor the divine messenger’s direct challenge to Balaam’s repeated violent actions against the animal.
The thread — The angel’s declaration of opposition directly continues Numbers 22:22, where God’s anger kindled and the angel stood to oppose Balaam’s path. The warning against a perverse way aligns with Proverbs 28:18, which contrasts the safety of integrity with the sudden fall of perversity.
Why it lands — The text states that divine opposition arises from a stubborn path, regardless of the traveler’s stated purpose. It requires the reader to recognize that physical resistance to God’s messenger exposes a deeper spiritual misalignment.
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 angel of the Lord said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me:
Cross-references
- Numbers 22:22 Then God’s anger was kindled because Balaam was going along, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding his donkey, and his two servants were with him.
- Proverbs 28:18 He who walks with integrity will be kept safe, but whoever is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall.
- Acts 13:10 and said, “O child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery! Will you never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord?
- Proverbs 14:2 He who walks in uprightness fears the LORD, but the one who is devious in his ways despises Him.
- Proverbs 28:6 Better a poor man who walks with integrity than a rich man whose ways are perverse.
- Exodus 3:2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed.
- Numbers 22:20 That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, get up and go with them, but you must only do what I tell you.”
- Numbers 22:28 Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?”
- Numbers 22:35 But the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you are to speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
- Deuteronomy 23:4 For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.