Numbers 22:32 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Because thy way is perverse before me— There is great difficulty, says Psalmanazar, in fixing the true meaning of the word ירטני iretni: He (God) hath given me over, or shut me up into the hands of the wicked, as our version renders it; or, as it might be still more literally expressed, He hath bowed me down by the hands of the wicked; alluding, as the context seems to hint, to the depredations which Job had suffered from the plundering Sabaeans, &c. mentioned Job, Job 1:15; Job 1:17. According to which sense, the expression made use of by the angel, Tret haderek lenegdi, thy way, or view, is base and low in my eyes, from the context, may thus be paraphrased: "Because thou hast stooped so low as to prostitute thy prophetic office to thine own selfish views, and hast hired thyself to curse that very people whom thou wert told by God himself were the objects of his favour, nay, and to make use of all thy enchantings and arts, so that thou mightest but obtain the wages of unrighteousness." The celebrated Mr. Schultens proves by divers authorities, that the word ירט iaret, signifies, properly, a way from which one cannot extricate one's self, and which leads to destruction. See his Commentary on Job 16:11. According to which, the sense is, "I oppose myself to thee, because thou art going to cast thyself into destruction, from which thou canst not be extricated."