Numbers 14:35
14:35 I, the Lord, have said, “I will surely do so to all this evil congregation that has gathered together against me. In this wilderness they will be finished, and there they will die!”’”
Numbers 22:34
22:34 Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood against me in the road. 1 So now, if it is evil in your sight, 2 I will go back home.” 3
Numbers 24:13
24:13 ‘If Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond 4 the commandment 5 of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own will, 6 but whatever the Lord tells me I must speak’?
1 sn Balaam is not here making a general confession of sin. What he is admitting to is a procedural mistake. The basic meaning of the word is “to miss the mark.” He now knows he took the wrong way, i.e., in coming to curse Israel.
2 sn The reference is to Balaam’s way. He is saying that if what he is doing is so perverse, so evil, he will turn around and go home. Of course, it did not appear that he had much of a chance of going forward.
3 tn The verb is the cohortative from “return”: I will return [me].
4 tn Heb “I am not able to go beyond.”
5 tn Heb “mouth.”
6 tn Heb “from my heart.”