Numbers 22:28
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said to Balaam, What have I done to you, that you have smitten me these three times?
American King James Version (AKJV)
And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said to Balaam, What have I done to you, that you have smitten me these three times?
American Standard Version (ASV)
And Jehovah opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?
Basic English Translation (BBE)
Then the Lord gave the ass the power of talking, and opening her mouth she said to Balaam, What have I done to you that you have given me blows these three times?
Webster's Revision
And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said to Balaam, What have I done to thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?
World English Bible
Yahweh opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?"
English Revised Version (ERV)
And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?
Clarke's Numbers 22:28 Bible Commentary
The Lord opened the mouth of the ass - And where is the wonder of all this? If the ass had opened her own mouth, and reproved the rash prophet, we might well be astonished; but when God opens the mouth, an ass can speak as well as a man. It is worthy of remark here, that Balaam testifies no surprise at this miracle, because he saw it was the Lord's doing. Of animate and inanimate things receiving for a short time the gift of speech, the heathen mythology furnishes many fictitious examples, with which I do not deem it proper to occupy the reader's time.
Barnes's Numbers 22:28 Bible Commentary
And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass - The account was perhaps given by Balaam to the Israelites after his capture in the war against Midian. Compare Numbers 31:8. That which is here recorded was apparently perceived by him alone among human witnesses. God may have brought it about that sounds uttered by the creature after its kind became to the prophet's intelligence as though it addressed him in rational speech. Indeed to an augur, priding himself on his skill in interpreting the cries and movements of animals, no more startling warning could be given than one so real as this, yet conveyed through the medium of his own art.
Wesley's Numbers 22:28 Bible Commentary
22:28 Opened the mouth - Conferred upon her the power of speech and reasoning for that time.
