Genesis 2:14

2:14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. ¹  The fourth river is the Euphrates.

Genesis 25:18

25:18 His descendants ²  settled from Havilah to Shur, which runs next ³  to Egypt all the way ⁴  to Asshur. ⁵  They settled ⁶  away from all their relatives. ⁷ 

Ezra 6:22

6:22 They observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for the Lord had given them joy and had changed the opinion ⁸  of the king of Assyria ⁹  toward them, so that he assisted ¹⁰  them in the work on the temple of God, the God of Israel.

¹ tn Heb “Asshur” (so NEB, NIV).

² tn Heb “they”; the referent (Ishmael’s descendants) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “which is by the face of,” or near the border. The territory ran along the border of Egypt.

⁴ tn Heb “as you go.”

⁵ sn The name Asshur refers here to a tribal area in the Sinai.

⁶ tn Heb “he fell.”

⁷ tn Heb “upon the face of all his brothers.” This last expression, obviously alluding to the earlier oracle about Ishmael (Gen 16:12), could mean that the descendants of Ishmael lived in hostility to others or that they lived in a territory that was opposite the lands of their relatives. While there is some ambiguity about the meaning, the line probably does give a hint of the Ishmaelite-Israelite conflicts to come.

⁸ tn Heb “heart.”

⁹ sn The expression “king of Assyria” is anachronistic, since Assyria fell in 612 b.c., long before the events of this chapter. Perhaps the expression is intended subtly to contrast earlier kings of Assyria who were hostile toward Israel with this Persian king who showed them favor.

¹⁰ tn Heb “to strengthen their hands.”