He looked at the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, “Your dwelling place is strong. Your nest is set in the rock.
Parallel Translations
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He looked at the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, “Your dwelling place is strong. Your nest is set in the rock.
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And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwellingplace, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock.
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And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said: Though firm be thy dwelling-place, and though thy nest be set in the rock;
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Numbers 24:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 15:19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
- Judges 1:16 The children of the Kenite, Moses’ brother-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.
- Job 29:18 Then I said, ‘I will die in my own house, I will count my days as the sand.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, Midianites.
Or, Midianites.
Make thyself as strong as thou canst.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 24:21 And he looked on the Kenites, and…
Num 24:21 And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwellingplace, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock.
Ver. 21. The Kenites,] i.e., The Midianites, {Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11} mingled among the Amalekites, {1Sa 15:6} for whom they are, and fare the worse, as Hamath did for Damascus. {Zec 9:2}
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The Kenite; the posterity or kindred of Jethro; not…
The Kenite; the posterity or kindred of Jethro; not that part of them which dwelt among the Israelites, to whom the following words do not agree, but those of them who were mingled with the Amalekites and Midianites. See Exo 3:1; Jdg 1:16; 4:11; 1Sa 15:6.
Thy nest, i.e. thy dwelling-place, so called, either because it was in a high place, as nests commonly are; or from their security and confidence of continuing long and safe in it; see Job 29:18; or in allusion to their name, for ken in Hebrew signifies a nest.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted,.... Though they were…
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, Sa1 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, Kg2 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.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The Kenites - The posterity or kindred of Jethro;…
The Kenites - The posterity or kindred of Jethro; not that part of them which dwelt among the Israelites, to whom the following words do not agree, but those of them who were mingled with the Amalekites and Midianites. Thy nest - Thy dwelling-place, so called, either because it was in an high place, as nests commonly are: or in allusion to their name, for ken in Hebrew signifies a nest.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 21. He looked on the Kenites] Commentators are…
Verse 21. He looked on the Kenites] Commentators are not well agreed who the Kenites were. Dr. Dodd's opinion is, I think, nearest to the truth. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, is called a priest or prince of Midian, Ex 3:1, and in Jdg 1:16 he is called a Kenite; we may infer, therefore, says he, that the Kenites and the Midianites were the same, or at least that the Kenites and the Midianites were confederate tribes. Some of these we learn from Judg. i., followed the Israelites, others abode still among the Midianites and Amalekites. When Saul destroyed the latter, we find he had no commission against the Kenites, 1Sa 15:6, for it appears that they were then a small and inconsiderable people; they had doubtless been wasted, as the text says, though by what means does not appear from history. On the other hand, it may be observed that the Midianites mentioned here lived close to the Dead Sea, at a great distance from the Midian where Jethro lived, which was near Horeb. Perhaps they were a colony or tribe that had migrated from the vicinity of Mount Sinai. It seems that at this time the Kenites occupied a very strong position: Strong is thy dwelling place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock; where there is a play on the original word קי, which signifies both a Kenite and a nest. High rocks in these countries were generally used as their strong places.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 24:21-22. He looked on the Kenites — Commentators…
Num 24:21-22. He looked on the Kenites — Commentators are much at a loss to say, with any certainty, who these Kenites were. The most probable account of them, Bishop Newton thinks, is as follows: “Jethro, the father- in-law of Moses, is called the priest of Midian, Exo 3:1; and Jdg 1:16, the Kenite. We may infer, therefore, that the Midianites and Kenites were the same, or at least that the Kenites were some of the tribes of Midian. Now of the Kenites, part followed Israel, Jdg 1:6; but the greater part, we may presume, remained among the Midianites and Amalekites, 1Sa 15:6. Their situation is said to be strong and secure among the mountains: Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock — Wherein is an allusion to the name, the same word in the Hebrew signifying a nest and a Kenite. Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive — The Amalekites were to be utterly destroyed, but the Kenites were to be carried captive. Accordingly, when Saul was sent by divine commission to destroy the Amalekites, he ordered the Kenites to depart from among them; for the kindness which some of them showed to Israel, their posterity was saved, 1Sa 15:6. This passage shows that they were wasted, and reduced to a low and weak condition; and as the kings of Assyria carried captive not only the Jews, but also the Syrians and several other nations, (2Ki 16:9; 2Ki 19:12-13,) it is most highly probable that the Kenites shared the same fate with their neighbours, and were carried away by the same torrent; and especially as we find some Kenites mentioned among the Jews after their return from captivity,” 1Ch 2:55.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The Kenites - First mentioned Gen 15:19 as one…
The Kenites - First mentioned Gen 15:19 as one of the tribes whose territory was promised to Abraham. In Jdg 1:16, where we read of them as moving with the children of Judah, to establish themselves in the pastures south of Arad, Moses’ father-in-law is spoken of as a Kenite (compare Jdg 4:11). It appears therefore, since Moses’ father-in-law was a prince or priest of Midian (Exo 2:15 ff), that the Kenites must have been of Midianite extraction, and so descended from Abraham through Keturah Gen 25:2.
But it seems unlikely that the Kenites of Gen 15:19, who were to be dispossessed by the descendants of Abraham, were identical with those of whom Balaam speaks, and who were, because of good offices rendered at the time of the Exodus, always regarded as kinsmen and friends by Israel (compare 1Sa 15:6; 1Sa 27:10). Rather, is it probable that the Kenites of Gen 15:19 were a Canaanite people, who derived their name from the city Kain, which fell eventually within the borders of the tribe of Judah Jos 15:22; and that the descendants of Hobab, who appear in Jdg 1:16 as making war in this very district, possessed themselves of this city, and with it of the name Kenite also. This they would seem to have already done when Balsam uttered his prediction; and in the next verse it is, as the margin correctly indicates, not of the Kenite, but of Kain the city, that he speaks. Nor is it surprising to find them in possession of their new abode in the promised land, while the Israelites were yet in their tents. It may well be that this roving band of Midianites had already entered Canaan, perhaps along the shores of the Dead Sea, and by routes impracticable for the huge host of Israel, and had, as a kind of advanced guard, made a beginning of the conquest of the country.
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From 1Ch 2:54-55, we learn that the Rechabites were a branch of the Kenites; and the name Salmaites, always given to the Kenites in the Targums, connects them with Salma, the son of Caleb, there mentioned. Jer. 35 shows how tenaciously, for many centuries, they held fast the nomadic habits of their race.
Strong is thy dwellingplace, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock - Render, Strong (or firm) be thy dwelling-place, and put thou thy nest in the rock (or cliff). In the Hebrew there is a play on the words ken, “nest,” and Kain, the name of the Kenites’ abode. This nest in the cliff might be the city of Hazazon-tamar or Engedi, if that be (as is likely) the “city of palm-trees,” from which they went up subsequently Jdg 1:16. But there is another site, about 10 miles south of Engedi, to which Balaam’s words would be more appropriate, on the summit of the cliff rising perpendicularly from the level of the western shore of the Dead Sea, where was afterward built the city of Masada, the scene of the closing tragedy of the Jewish-Roman war. It is not likely that such a natural fortress would ever have been unoccupied, or even excluded from a place in the list of the cities of Judah. Nor is there any site in the Holy land which a rude but warlike people might more fittingly designate as either Ken, the Nest, or Kain, the Possession.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Cinite. From the top of the hill, he cast…
Cinite. From the top of the hill, he cast his eyes across the Dead Sea, and beholding the strong holds of the Cinite, whose country had been promised to the Hebrews, he is inspired to foretel what would happen to this people. He alludes to their name, which signifies a nest; (Calmet) and to the manner in which those nations of Arabia lived, in caverns cut out of a rock. (Bellon, ii. 61.)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Kenites . . . nest in a rock--Though securely…
Kenites . . . nest in a rock--Though securely established among the clefts in the high rocks of En-gedi towards the west, they should be gradually reduced by a succession of enemies till the Assyrian invader carried them into captivity (Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11, Jdg 4:16-17; also Kg2 15:29; Kg2 17:6).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 21. The Kenites — The marriage kindred of Moses.…
21. The Kenites — The marriage kindred of Moses. Gen_15:19; Exodus xviii; Jdg_1:16, note.
Nest — The Hebrew ken, nest, is a play upon the word Kenite. Their abode was lasting, because it was laid upon the rock of Jehovah’s promise, their original dwelling-place being amid the mountains of Horeb, the scene of their nomad life. Exo_2:15; Exo_3:1, note.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 21. The utterance on the Kenites.
21. The utterance on the Kenites.
And he saw the Kenite] The singular adjective stands for the whole tribe; cf. 1Sa_15:6; 1Sa_30:29 (Heb.). In the next verse the tribe is called by the name of its reputed ancestor Ḳain.
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Enduring is thy dwelling place] With this and the following line cf. Obad. Num_24:3 f.
thy nest is set in the rock] The writer here plays upon the words ḳçn (‘nest’) and Ḳayin (‘Ḳain’).
Kain] The reputed ancestor of the tribe; cf. Jdg_4:11 (R.V. marg.). The name (Heb. Ḳayin) denotes ‘a lance,’ and Kênî in Aramaic means ‘a smith.’ This has led to the conjecture that the Kenites were at one time thought of not as a tribe in the strict sense but as an hereditary guild or caste of smiths. Such castes are still found in Arabia and many parts of Africa. In this connexion it is interesting to notice that Tubal-Cain (Ḳayin) is named as ‘the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron’ (Gen_4:22). Further, Cain (Ḳayin) the son of Adam may very possibly be identical with the Ḳayin of the present verse, and his story (Gen_4:1-17) ‘may preserve the recollection of some old collision between the agricultural and pastoral elements in prehistoric man.’ See Driver, Genesis, pp. 70–73.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (21-22) And he looked on the Kenites . .…
(21-22) And he looked on the Kenites . . . —According to the ordinary interpretation of these verses the continuous destruction of the Kenites is foretold until the Israelites should be taken captive by the Assyrians. The Kenites are included amongst the tribes whose country Abraham’s descendants were to possess (Gen_15:19). A portion of this tribe, however (for there is no evidence that the Canaanitish and the Midianitish Kenites had a different origin), joined the Israelites, and settled on the southern border of Judah (Jdg_1:16). If the Authorised Version of these verses be adopted, it is reasonable to conclude that the Kenites to whom Balaam’s prophecy referred must have been included amongst the enemies of Israel, whose destruction, in common with their other foes, is here predicted. It is obvious that this interpretation is open to two serious objections:—(1) that the natural reference of the words “carry thee away captive” is to the Kenites, not to the Israelites; and (2) that as the later history, as well as the Book of Numbers, makes mention only of those Kenites who allied themselves with the Israelites, we should naturally expect that in accordance with the promise which was given to Hobab by Moses (Num_10:29), the Kenites should be distinguished from the enemies of Israel, and be exempted from the destruction with which they were threatened. Another rendering of Num_24:22, and one which appears to be more agreeable to the context in which it stands, is the following:—“For surely the Kenites shall not be destroyed until Asshur shall carry thee into captivity.” This version has the support of the Targum of Palestine and other authorities. It is true that there is no express record of the fulfilment of this prophecy, but it is not probable that the Assyrians spared the Kenites who were settled amongst the Israelites; and we know from Jer_35:11 that after the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, the Rechabites, who were of the Kenite race (1Ch_2:55), came to Jerusalem for fear of the armies of the Chaldeans and Syrians. If Asshur denotes in this place the Assyrians in the later acceptation of the term, it must be remembered that one branch of the Kenites settled in Naphtali, near Kadesh (Jdg_4:11). Asshur, however, appears to be used in a wider sense, so as to include all the nations which proceeded from it (see Num_24:24). Even the Persian king is called, as Keil has observed, King of Asshur (Ezr_6:22). If this interpretation of the text be received, the antithesis between the doom of the Amalekites and the deliverance of the Kenites exactly corresponds to the attitude assumed by those tribes respectively in regard to Israel.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain He looked on the Kenites. This mashal is excessively…
He looked on the Kenites. This mashal is excessively obscure, for both the subject of it and the drift of it are disputed. On the one hand, the Kenites are mentioned among the Canaanitish tribes that were to be dispossessed, in Gen_15:19; on the other, they are identified with the Midianitish tribe to which Hobab and Raguel belonged, in Jud_1:16, and apparently in 1Sa_15:6. (see on Num_10:29) It has been supposed that the friendly Kenites had by this time loft the camp of Israel and established themselves by conquest in the south of Canaan, and even that they had occupied the territory and taken the name of the original Kenites of Gen_15:19. This, however, is a mere conjecture, and a very improbable one. That a weak tribe like that of Hobab should have done what Israel had not dared to do, and settled themselves by force of arms in Southern Palestine, and, further, that they should be already known by the name of those whom they had destroyed, is extremely unlikely, and is inconsistent with the statement in Jud_1:16. And thou puttest thy nest in a rock. Rather, "and thy nest laid ( upon a rock." We do not know where the Kenites dwelt, and therefore we cannot tell whether this expression is to be understood literally or figuratively. If the Canaanitish tribe is here spoken of, it is very likely they had their residence in some strong mountain fastness, but if the Midianitish tribe, then there is no reason to suppose that they had crossed the Jordan at all In that case the "nest" must be wholly figurative, and must refer to that strong confidence which they placed in the protection of the God of Israel.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 the Kenites
the Kenites
This is the name of a people group who descended from Kain. (See: How to Translate Names)
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The place where you live is strong
"The place were you live is well defended"
your nest is in the rocks
This is a metaphor that means that they live in a secure place. AT: "your location is as secure as a nest high in the rocks" (See: Metaphor)
Nevertheless you Kenites will be consumed by fire when Assyria carries you away captive
Here the destruction of the Kenites is spoken of as if they were burned up in a fire. This can be stated in active form. AT: "Nevertheless the Assyrians will destroy you Kenites like a fire, and take you away as captives" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
ruin
Assyria
captive
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 24:21-22 The Kenites, a desert people who occupied some…
24:21-22 The Kenites, a desert people who occupied some of the same regions as the Amalekites and Midianites, would be destroyed by Assyria. Moses married a Kenite (Judg 1:16; 4:11; cp. Num 10:29-32), and the Kenites remained mostly friendly with Israel thereafter (e.g., 1 Sam 15:6; 27:10; 30:27-30).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.