Numbers 24:22

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, Until Asshur shall carry you away captive.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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קָ֑יִן

Qayin

H7014

“Cain”

Noun, Proper

Appears 18× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 4:1

Full BDB Definition

Origin: the same as H7013 (with a play upon the affinity to H7069 )

TWOT: 2017 , 2016

Kenite = "smiths" - eldest son of Adam and Eve and the first murderer having murdered his brother Abel (noun proper masculine) - the tribe from which the father-in-law of Moses was a member and which lived in the area between southern Palestine and the mountains of Sinai (noun proper gentilic)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

9: words
9: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is קָ֑יִן Cain H7014 — appearing just 18 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

קָ֑יִן Cain H7014 occurs in 15 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
2 nouns
1 preposition
2 conjunctions
1 particle

Verb forms

יִהְיֶ֖ה Qal · Imperfect
לְבָ֣עֵֽר Piel · Infinitive Construct
תִּשְׁבֶּֽךָּ Qal · Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 12 words from the Hebrew and 16 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 9 Hebrew tokens and 10 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Numbers 24:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Genesis 10:11 Out of that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah,
Genesis 10:22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.
Ezra 4:2 then they drew near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers' [houses], and said to them, Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as you do; and we sacrifice to him since the days of Esar Haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.
Psalms 83:8 Assyria also is joined with them. They have helped the children of Lot. Selah.
Hosea 14:3 Assyria can't save us. We won't ride on horses; Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, 'Our gods!' For in you the fatherless finds mercy."

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Numbers 24:22 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

כִּ֥י אִם יִהְיֶ֖ה לְבָ֣עֵֽר קָ֑יִן עַד מָ֖ה אַשּׁ֥וּר תִּשְׁבֶּֽךָּ

Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, Until Asshur shall carry you away captive.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 24:22 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἐάν γίγνομαι ὁ βεωρ νοσσιά πανουργία ἀσσύριος σύ αἰχμαλωτεύω

and though Beor should have a skillfully contrived hiding-place, the Assyrians shall carry you away captive.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

אֲרֵי אִם יְהֵי לְשֵׁיצָאָה שַׁלְמָאָה עַד מָה אֲתוּרָאָה יִשְׁבִּינָךְ

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

אֲרוּם אִין יִתְגְזַר לְמֶהֱוֵי לְבִיזְתָא בְּנוֹי דְשַׁלְמַיָא עַד כְּדֵי יֵיתֵי סַנְחֵרִיב מַלְכָּא דְאָתּוּר וְיִשְׁבֵּי יָתָךְ

Yet so is it decreed that the children of the Shalmaia must be despoiled, but not until Sancherib the king of Athur shall come and make thee captive.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Numbers 24:22 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Commentary source

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Num 24:22 Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.

Ver. 22. Until Ashur.] Who, together with the Jews, carried captive all the neighbouring nations. {Jer 25:9}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Or, thou Kain shalt.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 22. Until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.] The Assyrians and Babylonians who carried away captive the ten tribes, 2Kg 17:6, and the Jews into Babylon, 2Kg 25:1; 2Kg 25:11, 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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

22. Until Asshur &c.] The Heb. can only be translated as in R.V. marg., ‘How long? Asshur shall &c.’ The words for ‘how long’ (‘ad mâh) may be a corruption of the name of some place in the east; ‘unto—shall Asshur carry thee captive.’ Asshur or Ashur is the true form of the name Assyria; cf. Num_24:24; Gen_10:22; Hos_14:3; Isa_10:5 (R.V. marg.).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And he took up his parable, and said,.... Or delivered another prophecy, having made some little pause:

alas, who shall live when God doeth this? referring not to what goes before, but to what follows; though Jarchi and Aben Ezra think it refers to the Assyria conquering and carrying captive, not only the Kenites, but all the nations of the world, so that there was no living comfortably in it on his account; but this is said after Balaam had taken up his parable again, and so respects what follows, as the destruction of the Persian empire by Alexander, in which Ashur or the Assyrians were included; and the destruction of the Jews by the Romans more especially; which was such as had not been the like from the beginning of the world, Mat 24:21, and perhaps may have a further respect to the affliction of the witnesses and church of Christ by antichrist; see Dan 12:1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Captive. The Samaritan insinuates that they should return, 1 Paralipomenon ii. 55. "Though thy nest should be entirely consumed, thy inhabitants shall return out of Assyria." (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "If to Beor (the capital) there should be nests of iniquity, the Assyrians will reduce thee to captivity." Hebrew, "Yet the Cinite should be wasted, till," &c. (Haydock) --- The family of Jethro was now among the Hebrews, and their posterity were suffered to dwell with the tribe of Juda. Abor afterwards removed into the tribe of Nephthali, and was led away by Salmanasar, 4 Kings xvii. (Menochius) --- Some of the Cinites were mixed with the Amalecites, 1 Kings xv. 6. The Assyrians infested the neighbouring nations, as well as the Hebrews, under Sennacherib and Nabuchodonosor, as the prophets inform us. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Kenite, Heb. Kain, i.e. 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.

Shall be wasted, i.e. shall be by degrees diminished and wasted by the incursions of divers enemies, till at last the Assyrian comes to complete the work, and carries them into captivity. For the Kenites lived partly among the ten tribes, Jos 19:33, compared with Jdg 4:11, and partly with the two tribes, Jdg 1:16; 4:16,17, and were carried captive with them, part by Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, 2Ki 17:6, and part by Nebuchadnezzar, who also is called an Assyrian, Ezr 6:22; Isa 52:4. The words may be rendered thus, shall be wasted. How long? to wit, shall they be thus wasted? (these particles being oft used abruptly and pathetically in the same manner, Psa 6:3; 90:13 Isa 6:11) till Asshur comes,

Asshur shall carry thee away captive.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

22. Nevertheless the Kenite — Hebrew, Kain. The sentence should be translated “for Kain shall not be exterminated until Asshur,” etc. It is here signified that they will dwell by Israel undisturbed till Asshur, the Assyrians, shall desolate the whole land, and lead Israel and their wards, the Kenites, into captivity. Not only original Assyria is here intended but Babylonia and Persia, which spread over the same territory. Ezr_6:22. Balaam did not foretell Israel’s captivity in Babylon, because this was a transitory, disciplinary judgment, and not an extinction of nationality, as in the case of the Kenites.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted. yiq rebl hyhyiA yKi. Rather, "Kain shall surely not be wasted." is of doubtful meaning, but it seems here to have the force of a negative question equivalent to a negation. Kain is mentioned in Jos_15:57 as one of the towns of Judah, but there is little reason to suppose that an insignificant village is here mentioned by name. Probably "Kain" stands for the tribe-father, and is simply the poetical equivalent of Kenite. Until hmAd. There is some uncertainty about these two particles, which are sometimes rendered "how long?" In the sense of "until" they are said to be an Aramaism, but this is doubtful.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

The Kenite - Hebrew. 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. Shall be wasted - Shall be by degrees diminished by the incursions of divers enemies, till at last the Assyrian comes to compleat the work and carries them into captivity. For the Kenites who lived partly among the ten tribes, and partly with the two tribes, were carried captive with them, part by Salmaneser, the King of Assyria, and part by Nebuchadnezzar, who also is called an Assyrian, Ezra vi, 22 Isaiah lii, 4.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

כי אם יהיה לבער קין וגו׳ FOR IF THE KENITES WILL BE REMOVED etc. — Happy are you that you have firmly settled yourself in such strength, to which I have referred, so that thou will therefore never be driven from the world. For even if you will in the future go into exile with the Ten Tribes and be removed from the place where you had settled, what does it matter?

עד מה אשור תשבך HOW FAR WILL ASSYRIA CARRY YOU AWAY CAPTIVE? Possibly as far as Chaloch and Chabor — this is not being driven from the world, but only being moved from place to place, and in the end you will return with the other exiles!

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 9 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Qayin (“Cain”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word Qayin carries the sense “Cain.” How does it shape the verse?
Genesis 4:1 shares the word «Cain» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «יִהְיֶ֖ה» is Qal Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 9 Hebrew ↔ 10 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 14 words in this verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.