Numbers 24:22
in Numbers 24Yet Kain will be destroyed when Asshur takes you captive.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, Until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
KJV
Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
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This verse in Numbers 24
Commentary
6 notes on this verseUntil Asshur shall carry thee away captive - The Assyrians and Babylonians who carried away captive the ten tribes, 2Ki 17:6, and the Jews into Babylon, 2 Kings 25, probably carried away the Kenites also. Indeed this seems pretty evident, as we find some Kenites mentioned among the Jews after their return from the Babylonish captivity, 1Ch 2:55.
This site's exposition
Amalek was the first of the nations
on Numbers 24:20-22
Amalek is called the first of the nations, and Genesis 36:12 makes Amalek a grandson of Esau, so the older commentators read first as first in the assault of Exodus 17:8 or first in standing rather than first in time. The two short oracles of verses 20 and 21 arrive together on one day at 1 Samuel 15, where Saul is sent against Amalek and warns the Kenites out from among them at 15:6. The Kenites are the people of Moses' father in law, who went up with Judah at Judges 1:16, so the oracle here addresses a friend of Israel. Thy nest in a rock plays on the sound of their name, and the captivity by Asshur in verse 22 is the Assyrian deportation the north met at 2 Kings 15:29.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Kain, that is, the Kenite, so called, either by a transposition of letters, which is very usual in the Hebrew tongue; or from the name of some eminent place where they lived, or person from whom they were descended, though now the memory of them be utterly lost, as it hath fared with innumerable other places and persons, famous in their generations, mentioned in ancient Heathen writers.
Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted,....
Note, Bodies politic, like natural bodies, though of the strongest constitutions, will gradually decay, and come to ruin at last; even a nest in a rock will be no perpetual security. Here is a prophecy that looks as far forward as the Greeks and Romans, for theirs is supposed to be meant by the coast of Chittim,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Render, For Kain shall surely not be destroyed (literally “be for destruction”) until Asshur, etc. The words are not, as they appear in the King James Version, a prediction of evil to the Kenites, but a promise, on the contrary, of safety to be long continued to them (compare Num 10:32; Jer 35:19).
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֥י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | except | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יִהְיֶ֖ה | yihyeh | it will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לְבָ֣עֵֽר | levaer | <into> consuming | H1197 → | 94 times |
| קָ֑יִן | kayin | [the] Kenite[s] | H7014 → | |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| מָ֖ה | mah | when? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אַשּׁ֥וּר | ʾashur | Asshur | H804 → | |
| תִּשְׁבֶּֽךָּ׃ | tishbeka | will it take captive you | H7617 → | 47 times |
כִּ֥יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
אִם־except
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יִהְיֶ֖הit will become
yihyehH1961 →3559 times
לְבָ֣עֵֽר<into> consuming
levaerH1197 →94 times
קָ֑יִן[the] Kenite[s]
kayinH7014 →
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
מָ֖הwhen?
mahH4100 →752 times
אַשּׁ֥וּרAsshur
ʾashurH804 →
תִּשְׁבֶּֽךָּ׃will it take captive you
tishbekaH7617 →47 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Hosea 14:3Assyria will not save us, nor will we ride on horses. We will never again say, ‘Our gods!’ to the work of our own hands. For in You the fatherless find compassion.”
it leads to
- Psalms 10:14
But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.
- Psalms 68:5
A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.
- Isaiah 31:1
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy…
- John 14:18
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
- Psalms 33:17
A horse is a vain hope for salvation; even its great strength cannot save.
- Psalms 10:14
Through
Ezra 4:2they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the families, saying, “Let us build with you because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to Him since the time of King Esar-haddon…
it leads to
- 2 Kings 17:24
Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in…
- 2 Kings 19:37
One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon…
- 2 Kings 17:24
Through
Psalms 83:8Even Assyria has joined them, lending strength to the sons of Lot. Selah
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 2:9
Then the LORD said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, because I have given Ar to the descendants…
- Deuteronomy 2:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.