Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted: This prophecy addresses the Kenites directly in second person. Therefore in many languages it will be helpful to change Kain to “you Kenites” (Good News Translation, New International Version) or “you people of Kain.” Kain should actually be spelled in the same way as in Gen 4.1. Unlike Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible has “Cain” both here and in Gen 4.1. The Hebrew verb rendered wasted (baʿar) can mean “destroy” (so Good News Translation) or “burn.” Alter uses the latter sense by rendering this line as “But Cain will be for burning.” New Revised Standard Version is similar with “yet Kain is destined for burning.” Other translations that have the sense of “burn” here are Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and SPCL. Perhaps there is a play on the Hebrew name Kain, which can mean “blacksmith” (so Budd, page 270; compare Gen 4.22).

How long shall Asshur take you away captive?: It is possible to understand the Hebrew expression for How long (ʿad-mah) as a conjunction and translate it “When” (Good News Translation, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh; supported by Levine, page 205) or “until” (King James Version). Traduction œcuménique de la Bible provides a helpful model for this line, saying “and finally Asshur will take you prisoner.” As a footnote in NET Bible explains, Asshur may refer to a north Arabian group of people descended from Abraham (see Gen 25.3), with whom the Kenites warred (so Ashley, page 508), and not the later empire of “Assyria” (Good News Translation).

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .