Numbers 24:24

24:24 Ships will come from the coast of Kittim, ¹ 

and will afflict Asshur, ²  and will afflict Eber,

and he will also perish forever.” ³ 

Jeremiah 2:10

2:10 Go west ⁴  across the sea to the coasts of Cyprus ⁵  and see.

Send someone east to Kedar ⁶  and have them look carefully.

See if such a thing as this has ever happened:

[24:24]  ¹ tc The MT is difficult. The Kittim refers normally to Cyprus, or any maritime people to the west. W. F. Albright proposed emending the line to “islands will gather in the north, ships from the distant sea” (“The Oracles of Balaam,” JBL 63 [1944]: 222-23). Some commentators accept that reading as the original state of the text, since the present MT makes little sense.

[24:24]  ² tn Or perhaps “Assyria” (so NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[24:24]  ³ tn Or “it will end in utter destruction.”

[2:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “For go west.”

[2:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “pass over to the coasts of Kittim.” The words “west across the sea” in this line and “east of” in the next are implicit in the text and are supplied in the translation to give geographical orientation.

[2:10]  ⁶ sn Kedar is the home of the Bedouin tribes in the Syro-Arabian desert. See Gen 25:18 and Jer 49:38. See also the previous note for the significance of the reference here.