16. And they came to Balaam and said to him, Thus saith Balak, the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me;
17. for I will without a doubt honour thee greatly, and I will do whatever thou sayest unto me; come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.
18. And Balaam answered and said unto the slaves of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do anything small or great.
19. Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night that I may know what the Lord will say unto me again.
20. And God came unto Balaam at night and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do.
21. So Balaam rose up in the morning and saddled his female ass and went with the princes of Moab.
22. And God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.
23. And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his sword drawn in his hand; and the ass turned aside out of the way and went into the field. Then Balaam smote the ass to turn her into the way.
24. But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side and a wall on that side.
25. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; and he smote her again.