QENITI (CINEI). - From the Hebrew qêni or qajin, a collective singular, plural qênim. A tribe mentioned for the first time in Gen. 15:19, along with nine others settled in the territory of Canaan at the time of Abraham. It probably lived toward the "Brook of Egypt" (v.).

Hobab, Moses' brother-in-law, who led the Hebrews through the desert, was a Kenite (Num. 10:29-32). After the entry into the Promised Land, they obtained, as a reward, the right to settle partly in the Negeb, south of Arad, as attached to the tribe of Judah, and partly in the north near Kedesh in the tribe of Naphtali (Judg. 4:11, 17). Jael, wife of the Kenite Heber, killed Sisera (ibid. 4:17-21). Saul begged them to separate themselves from the Amalekites so as not to involve them in their extermination (1 Sam. 15:6). It appears that the Rechabites were descended from the K. (1 Chron. 2:55). According to Balaam's oracle (Num. 24:21-23) they suffered from the Assyrian invasions and took part in the Babylonian captivity.

Giorgio Castellino

@incollection{ec3_cinei_qeniti, author = {Castellino, Giorgio}, title = {Cinei (Qeniti)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {1672}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/cinei-qeniti} }

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Qeniti (Cinei)

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