Discovery BoxNumbers 22:34 
Context22:34 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 35:32
Context35:32 And you must not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a town of refuge, to allow him to return home and live on his own land before the death of the high priest. 4
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 “the priest.” The Greek and the Syriac have “high priest.” The present translation, along with many English versions, uses “high priest” as a clarification.
