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.

tn Or perhaps “Assyria” (so NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

tn Or “it will end in utter destruction.”