Numbers 24:23-24

Balaam's last prophetic message. This is the most obscure of all the poems. The translation is uncertain, and no historical event is known to which the words can refer.

Kittim, derived from Kitti a town in Cyprus, was a name used for Greece; cf. Genesis 10:4 (where Kittim is reckoned as a son of Javan, i.e. Greece), 1MMalachi 1:1; 1Ma 8:5; it was also used sometimes for the Western maritime powers generally; cf. Jeremiah 2:10; Ezekiel 27:6. In Daniel 11:30 it is even referred to the Romans; cf. Vulg. -Italia" in the present passage.