The Israelites then marched on and encamped in the steppes of Moab, across the Jordan from Jericho. Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. Moab was alarmed because that people was so numerous. Moab dreaded the Israelites, and Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this horde will lick clean all that is about us as an ox licks up the grass of the field.”Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor in Pethor, which is by the Euphrates, in the land of his kinsfolk, to invite him, saying, “There is a people that came out of Egypt; it hides the earth from view, and it is settled next to me. Come then, put a curse upon this people for me, since they are too numerous for me; perhaps I can thus defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whomever you bless is blessed indeed, and whomever you curse is cursed.” The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian, versed in divination, set out. They came to Balaam and gave him Balak’s message.

He said to them, “Spend the night here, and I shall reply to you as יהוה may instruct me.” So the Moabite dignitaries stayed with Balaam. God came to Balaam and said, “What do these men want of you?” Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: Here is a people that came out from Egypt and hides the earth from view. Come now and curse them for me; perhaps I can engage them in battle and drive them off.” But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not curse that people, for they are blessed.” Balaam arose in the morning and said to Balak’s dignitaries, “Go back to your own country, for יהוה will not let me go with you.” The Moabite dignitaries left, and they came to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.” Then Balak sent other dignitaries, more numerous and distinguished than the first. They came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak son of Zippor: Please do not refuse to come to me. I will reward you richly and I will do anything you ask of me. Only come and damn this people for me.” Balaam replied to Balak’s officials, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, big or little, contrary to the command of my God יהוה. So you, too, stay here overnight, and let me find out what else יהוה may say to me.” That night God came to Balaam and said to him, “If the agents have come to invite you, you may go with them. But whatever I command you, that you shall do.” When he arose in the morning, Balaam saddled his ass and departed with the Moabite dignitaries.

(22) But God was incensed at his going; so a messenger of יהוה took a position in his way as an adversary. He was riding on his she-ass, with his two servants alongside,(23) when the ass caught sight of the messenger of יהוה standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. The ass swerved from the road and went into the fields; and Balaam beat the ass to turn her back onto the road.(24) The messenger of יהוה then stationed himself in a lane between the vineyards, with a fence on either side.(25) The ass, seeing the messenger of יהוה, pressed herself against the wall and squeezed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he beat her again.(26) Once more the messenger of יהוה moved forward and stationed himself on a spot so narrow that there was no room to swerve right or left.(27) When the ass now saw the messenger of יהוה, she lay down under Balaam; and Balaam was furious and beat the ass with his stick.(28) Then יהוה opened the ass’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?”(29) Balaam said to the ass, “You have made a mockery of me! If I had a sword with me, I’d kill you.”(30) The ass said to Balaam, “Look, I am the ass that you have been riding all along until this day! Have I been in the habit of doing thus to you?” And he answered, “No.”(31) Then יהוה uncovered Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the messenger of יהוה standing in the way, his drawn sword in his hand; thereupon he bowed right down to the ground. (32) The messenger of יהוה said to him, “Why have you beaten your ass these three times? It is I who came out as an adversary, for the errand is obnoxious to me.(33) And when the ass saw me, she shied away because of me those three times. If she had not shied away from me, you are the one I should have killed, while sparing her.”(34) Balaam said to the messenger of יהוה, “I erred because I did not know that you were standing in my way. If you still disapprove, I will turn back.”

The school of Rabbi Natan said that there is another abbreviation in the Torah. In the verse: “And the angel of the Lord said to him: Why did you hit your donkey these three times? Behold I have come out as an adversary because your way is contrary [yarat] against me” (Numbers 22:32). Yarat is an abbreviation for: The donkey feared [yare’a], it saw [ra’ata], and it turned aside [nateta].

(1) Now Balaam, seeing that it pleased יהוה to bless Israel, did not, as on previous occasions, go in search of omens, but turned his face toward the wilderness.(2) As Balaam looked up and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the spirit of God came upon him.(3) Taking up his theme, he said:
Word of Balaam son of Beor,
Word of the man whose eye is true,
(4) Word of one who hears God’s speech,
Who beholds visions from the Almighty,
Prostrate, but with eyes unveiled:
(5) How fair are your tents, O Jacob,
Your dwellings, O Israel!
(6) Like palm-groves that stretch out,
Like gardens beside a river,
Like aloes planted by יהוה,
Like cedars beside the water;

(1) מה טבו אהליך HOW GOODLY ARE THY TENTS — He said this because he saw that the entrances of their tents were not facing each other (Bava Batra 60a; cf. v. 2). (2) משכנתיך means thy encampments, as the Targum has it. — Another explanation — מה טבו אהליך HOW GOODLY ARE THY TENTS — How goodly are the tent of Shiloh and the Temple when these flourished, in that sacrifices were offered therein to atone for you; (3) משכנתיך How goodly are they even when they are in ruins, because then they are a pledge (משכון) for you, and the fact that they are in ruins is an atonement for your souls, as it is said. (Lamentations 4:11) “The Lord hath brought His fury to an end”. And by what means hath He brought it to an end? “He hath kindled a fire in Zion! (i.e. hath destroyed the Temple) (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Mishpatim 11).