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 

Numbers 30:13

30:13 “Any vow or sworn obligation that would bring affliction to her, ⁴  her husband can confirm or nullify. ⁵ 

Numbers 29:7

The Day of Atonement

29:7 “‘On the tenth day of this seventh month you are to have a holy assembly. You must humble yourselves; ⁶  you must not do any work on it.

[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.”

[30:13]  ⁴ tn The sentence uses the infinitive construct לְעַנֹּת (lÿ’annot, “to afflict”), which is the same word used in the instructions for the day of atonement in which people are to afflict themselves (their souls). The case here may be that the woman would take a religious vow on such an occasion to humble herself, to mortify her flesh, to abstain from certain things, perhaps even sexual relations within marriage.

[30:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “or her husband can nullify.”

[29:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “afflict yourselves”; NAB “mortify yourselves”; NIV, NRSV “deny yourselves.”