Numbers 24:1
And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord that he should bless Israel. he went not as he had gone before, to seek divination: but setting his face towards the desert,
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Cumque vidisset Balaam quod placeret Domino ut benediceret Israëli, nequaquam abiit ut ante perrexerat, ut augurium quæreret : sed dirigens contra desertum vultum suum,
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Καὶ ἰδὼν Βαλαὰμ ὅτι καλόν ἐστιν ἔναντι Κυρίου εὐλογεῖν τὸν Ἰσραήλ, οὐκ ἐπορεύθη κατὰ τὸ εἰωθὸς εἰς συνάντησιν τοῖς οἰωνοῖς, καὶ ἀπέστρεψεν τὸ πρόσωπον εἰς τὴν ἔρημον.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיַּ֣רְא בִּלְעָ֗ם כִּ֣י ט֞וֹב בְּעֵינֵ֤י יְהוָה֙ לְבָרֵ֣ךְ אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְלֹא הָלַ֥ךְ כְּפַֽעַם בְּפַ֖עַם לִקְרַ֣את נְחָשִׁ֑ים וַיָּ֥שֶׁת אֶל הַמִּדְבָּ֖ר פָּנָֽיו
Haydock's commentary
Divination. Septuagint, "to meet the birds." The augurs judged of future events by the flying, eating, and other appearances of birds. Hebrew, "enchantments." (Menochius)
Desert. The plains of Moab, where the Israelites were encamped. He found himself, as it were, involuntarily transported by the spirit of God, ver. 2. (Calmet)
Yet, for all that, he did not become more holy. Some work miracles, and are damned, Matthew vii. 22. (Worthington)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.