1 Profectique castrametati sunt in campestribus Moab, ubi trans Jordanem Jericho sita est. 2 Videns autem Balac filius Sephor omnia quæ fecerat Israël Amorrhæo, 3 et quod pertimuissent eum Moabitæ, et impetum ejus ferre non possent, 4 dixit ad majores natu Madian: Ita delebit hic populus omnes, qui in nostris finibus commorantur, quomodo solet bos herbas usque ad radices carpere. Ipse erat eo tempore rex in Moab. 5 Misit ergo nuntios ad Balaam filium Beor ariolum, qui habitabat super flumen terræ filiorum Ammon, ut vocarent eum, et dicerent: Ecce egressus est populus ex Ægypto, qui operuit superficiem terræ, sedens contra me. 6 Veni igitur, et maledic populo huic, quia fortior me est: si quomodo possim percutere et ejicere eum de terra mea. Novi enim quod benedictus sit cui benedixeris, et maledictus in quem maledicta congesseris. 7 Perrexeruntque seniores Moab, et majores natu Madian, habentes divinationis pretium in manibus. Cumque venissent ad Balaam, et narrassent ei omnia verba Balac, 8 ille respondit: Manete hic nocte, et respondebo quidquid mihi dixerit Dominus. Manentibus illis apud Balaam, venit Deus, et ait ad eum: 9 Quid sibi volunt homines isti apud te? 10 Respondit: Balac filius Sephor rex Moabitarum misit ad me, 11 dicens: Ecce populus qui egressus est de Ægypto, operuit superficiem terræ: veni, et maledic ei, si quomodo possim pugnans abigere eum. 12 Dixitque Deus ad Balaam: Noli ire cum eis, neque maledicas populo: quia benedictus est. 13 Qui mane consurgens dixit ad principes: Ite in terram vestram, quia prohibuit me Dominus venire vobiscum. 14 Reversi principes dixerunt ad Balac: Noluit Balaam venire nobiscum. 15 Rursum ille multo plures et nobiliores quam ante miserat, misit. 16 Qui cum venissent ad Balaam, dixerunt: Sic dicit Balac filius Sephor: Ne cuncteris venire ad me: 17 paratus sum honorare te, et quidquid volueris, dabo tibi: veni, et maledic populo isti. 18 Respondit Balaam: Si dederit mihi Balac plenam domum suam argenti et auri, non potero immutare verbum Domini Dei mei, ut vel plus, vel minus loquar. 19 Obsecro ut hic maneatis etiam hac nocte, et scire queam quid mihi rursum respondeat Dominus. 20 Venit ergo Deus ad Balaam nocte, et ait ei: Si vocare te venerunt homines isti, surge, et vade cum eis: ita dumtaxat, ut quod tibi præcepero, facias. 21 Surrexit Balaam mane, et strata asina sua profectus est cum eis. 22 Et iratus est Deus. Stetitque angelus Domini in via contra Balaam, qui insidebat asinæ, et duos pueros habebat secum. 23 Cernens asina angelum stantem in via, evaginato gladio, avertit se de itinere, et ibat per agrum. Quam cum verberaret Balaam, et vellet ad semitam reducere, 24 stetit angelus in angustiis duarum maceriarum, quibus vineæ cingebantur. 25 Quem videns asina, junxit se parieti, et attrivit sedentis pedem. At ille iterum verberabat eam: 26 et nihilominus angelus ad locum angustum transiens, ubi nec ad dexteram, nec ad sinistram poterat deviare, obvius stetit. 27 Cumque vidisset asina stantem angelum, concidit sub pedibus sedentis: qui iratus, vehementius cædebat fuste latera ejus. 28 Aperuitque Dominus os asinæ, et locuta est: Quid feci tibi? cur percutis me ecce jam tertio? 29 Respondit Balaam: Quia commeruisti, et illusisti mihi: utinam haberem gladium, ut te percuterem ! 30 Dixit asina: Nonne animal tuum sum, cui semper sedere consuevisti usque in præsentem diem? dic quid simile umquam fecerim tibi. At ille ait: Numquam. 31 Protinus aperuit Dominus oculos Balaam, et vidit angelum stantem in via, evaginato gladio, adoravitque eum pronus in terram. 32 Cui angelus: Cur, inquit, tertio verberas asinam tuam? ego veni ut adversarer tibi, quia perversa est via tua, mihique contraria: 33 et nisi asina declinasset de via, dans locum resistenti, te occidissem, et illa viveret. 34 Dixit Balaam: Peccavi, nesciens quod tu stares contra me: et nunc si displicet tibi ut vadam, revertar. 35 Ait angelus: Vade cum istis, et cave ne aliud quam præcepero tibi loquaris. Ivit igitur cum principibus. 36 Quod cum audisset Balac, egressus est in occursum ejus in oppido Moabitarum, quod situm est in extremis finibus Arnon. 37 Dixitque ad Balaam: Misi nuntios ut vocarent te: cur non statim venisti ad me? an quia mercedem adventui tuo reddere nequeo? 38 Cui ille respondit: Ecce adsum: numquid loqui potero aliud, nisi quod Deus posuerit in ore meo? 39 Perrexerunt ergo simul, et venerunt in urbem, quæ in extremis regni ejus finibus erat. 40 Cumque occidisset Balac boves et oves, misit ad Balaam, et principes qui cum eo erant, munera. 41 Mane autem facto, duxit eum ad excelsa Baal, et intuitus est extremam partem populi.
Numbers 22 Clementine Vulgate
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Balaam
The son of Beor from Pethor, hired by Balak to curse Israel, who could only bless Israel after the angel of the LORD stopped his donkey, and who was later killed by the sword…
Cited in the guide: Numbers 22:5; Numbers 22:12; Numbers 24:3
Balak
The son of Zippor and king of Moab, who feared Israel and hired Balaam to curse them, but each oracle from the high places turned into a blessing.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 22:2; Numbers 22:4; Numbers 23:2
Beor
The father of the diviner Balaam, whose home was Pethor by the Euphrates.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 22:5; Numbers 24:3; Deuteronomy 23:4
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Zippor
The father of Balak, king of Moab.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 22:2; Numbers 22:4; Joshua 24:9
Cross references (36)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Numbers 33:48–50; Numbers 32:19; Joshua 3:16; Numbers 21:20; Deuteronomy 34:1
- 2 Judges 11:25; Numbers 21:20–35; Numbers 21:3
- 3 Exodus 15:15; Isaiah 23:5; Joshua 9:24; Joshua 2:10–11; Deuteronomy 2:25
- 4 Numbers 25:15–18; Numbers 31:8; Jeremiah 48:38; Numbers 22:2; Joshua 13:21–22
- 5 Deuteronomy 23:4; Micah 6:5; Joshua 24:9; Jude 11; Numbers 23:7
- 6 Numbers 24:9; Numbers 23:7–8; 1 Kings 22:13; 1 Samuel 17:43; Genesis 12:3
- 7 Micah 3:11; 1 Samuel 9:7–8; 2 Peter 2:15; Isaiah 56:11; 1 Timothy 6:9–10
- 8 Numbers 23:12; Numbers 22:19–20; Jeremiah 12:2; Numbers 12:6; Ezekiel 33:31
- 9 Genesis 20:3; Numbers 22:20; Genesis 3:9–11; Daniel 4:31–32; Exodus 4:2
- 12 Deuteronomy 23:5; Ephesians 1:3; Romans 11:29; Numbers 23:19–20; Genesis 12:2
- 13 Numbers 22:14; Deuteronomy 23:5
- 14 Numbers 22:13; Numbers 22:37
- 15 Acts 10:7–8; Numbers 22:7–8
- 17 Numbers 24:11; Matthew 4:8–9; Numbers 23:2–3; Esther 7:9; Deuteronomy 16:9
- 18 Numbers 24:13; 2 Chronicles 18:13; 1 Kings 22:14; Numbers 23:26; Numbers 22:38
- 19 Jude 11; 2 Peter 2:15; 2 Peter 2:3; 1 Timothy 6:9–10; Numbers 22:7–8
- 20 Numbers 24:13; Numbers 23:26; Numbers 23:12; Numbers 22:35; 2 Thessalonians 2:9–12
- 21 Proverbs 1:15–16
- 22 Lamentations 2:4; Numbers 22:32; Exodus 4:24; Exodus 23:20; Hosea 12:4–5
- 23 Jude 11; 2 Peter 2:16; 1 Corinthians 1:27–29; Jeremiah 8:7; Acts 22:9
- 25 Job 5:13–15; Isaiah 47:12
- 26 Hosea 2:6; Isaiah 26:11
- 27 Proverbs 14:16; James 1:19; Proverbs 27:3–4
- 28 2 Peter 2:16; Luke 1:37; Exodus 4:11; 1 Corinthians 1:19; Romans 8:22
- 29 Proverbs 12:10; Proverbs 12:16; Matthew 15:19; Ecclesiastes 9:3
- 30 2 Peter 2:16; 1 Corinthians 1:27–28
- 31 Genesis 21:19; Luke 24:31; Acts 26:18; Numbers 24:16; Numbers 24:4
- 32 Proverbs 28:18; Numbers 22:22; Acts 13:10; Proverbs 14:2; Proverbs 28:6
- 33 Numbers 16:33–35; Numbers 14:37; 1 Kings 13:24–28
- 34 1 Samuel 15:24; Job 34:31–32; 2 Samuel 12:13; 1 Samuel 15:30; 1 Samuel 26:21
- 35 2 Thessalonians 2:9–12; Isaiah 37:26–29; Psalm 81:12; Numbers 22:20–21
- 36 Acts 28:15; Jeremiah 48:20; Isaiah 16:2; Deuteronomy 2:24; Genesis 18:2
- 37 Numbers 24:11; John 5:44; Matthew 4:8–9; Psalm 75:6; Luke 4:6
- 38 Numbers 22:18; Proverbs 19:21; Numbers 23:26; Numbers 23:16; 1 Kings 22:14
- 40 Numbers 23:14; Proverbs 1:16; Genesis 31:54; Numbers 23:30; Numbers 23:2
- 41 Numbers 23:13; Numbers 25:2–3; Numbers 21:28; Deuteronomy 12:2; Jeremiah 48:35
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
"Thou shall not go with them, neither shalt thou curse the people." He does not hint at anything with regard to the people, for they all lay before his view, but [he refers] to the mystery of Christ pointed out beforehand.