24:20 Then Balaam 1 looked on Amalek and delivered this oracle: 2
“Amalek was the first 3 of the nations,
but his end will be that he will perish.”
24:24 Ships will come from the coast of Kittim, 4
and will afflict Asshur, 5 and will afflict Eber,
and he will also perish forever.” 6
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “and he lifted up his oracle and said.” So also in vv. 21, 23.
3 sn This probably means that it held first place, or it thought that it was “the first of the nations.” It was not the first, either in order or greatness.
4 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.
5 tn Or perhaps “Assyria” (so NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
6 tn Or “it will end in utter destruction.”