So Balaam rose in the morning, and saddled his ass: Good News Bible leaves the verb rose implied by saying “So the next morning Balaam saddled his donkey.” A “saddle” is a seat placed on the back of animal to enable a person to ride. The Hebrew word for ass (ʾathon) refers specifically to a saddle donkey or a donkey used for riding. A saddle donkey is usually a large strong female donkey since the males are too difficult to control when they are near a female in heat. As noted in the comments on 16.15, ass is better rendered “donkey” in English. In languages that do not distinguish between male and female donkeys, or those that do not have a precise word for “donkey” at all, it is not essential to convey that this donkey was female. The narrator introduces here a donkey as a “character” who will be important in the following episode.

And went with the princes of Moab: The second episode of the Balaam story concludes as did the first one (see verse 14), with the Moabite officials returning home, only this time, by way of contrast, Balaam went with them. For the Hebrew word rendered princes (sar), see verse 8 and 21.18.

Revised Standard Version starts a new paragraph with verse 21, while Good News Bible starts another paragraph (actually a new section) at verse 22. We prefer the paragraph break in Good News Bible, since verse 21 brings the narrative to a close in a conventional way: in verse 21 Balaam simply carried out God’s instructions of verse 20. Although verse 21 involves a change of place, it is only in verse 22 that Balaam began to face opposition from God. This way of understanding the structure of this narrative corresponds with the wording and interpretation of verse 14, which is viewed as concluding the first episode.

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .