Numbers 24:22

22 yet you Kenites will be destroyed when Ashur takes you captive.”

Numbers 24:22 in Other Translations

KJV
22 Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
ESV
22 Nevertheless, Kain shall be burned when Asshur takes you away captive."
NLT
22 But the Kenites will be destroyed when Assyria takes you captive.”
MSG
22 Still, you Kenites will look stupid when Asshur takes you prisoner.
CSB
22 Kain will be destroyed when Asshur takes you captive.

Numbers 24:22 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 24:22

Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted
Though they were so strongly fortified, and closely immured and surrounded with rocks and mountains, yet they should gradually waste away, as they were but few in Saul's time, ( 1 Samuel 15:6 )

until Ashur shall carry thee away captive;
Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, when he carried captive the people of Syria, took these with them, ( 2 Kings 16:9 ) , though Jarchi thinks they were carried captives with the ten tribes, that is, by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria; and the Targum of Jonathan, by Sennacherib, king of Assyria; and others think by Nebuchadnezzar, who was sometimes reckoned a king of Assyria; taking them to be the same with the Amalekites, who were carried captives and returned with the two tribes.

Numbers 24:22 In-Context

20 Then Balaam saw Amalek and spoke his message: “Amalek was first among the nations, but their end will be utter destruction.”
21 Then he saw the Kenites and spoke his message: “Your dwelling place is secure, your nest is set in a rock;
22 yet you Kenites will be destroyed when Ashur takes you captive.”
23 Then he spoke his message: “Alas! Who can live when God does this?
24 Ships will come from the shores of Cyprus; they will subdue Ashur and Eber, but they too will come to ruin.”

Cross References 1

  • 1. S Genesis 10:22
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.