C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch on Numbers 22:32-35

Num 22:32-34

To humble him deeply and inwardly, the Lord help up before him the injustice of his cruel treatment of the ass, and told him at the same time that it had saved his life by turning out of the way. “I have come out,” said the angel of the Lord, “as an adversary; for the way leads headlong into destruction before me;” i.e., the way which thou art going is leading thee, in my eyes, in my view, into destruction. ירט, to plunge, sc., into destruction, both here, and also in Job 16:11, the only other passage in which it occurs.