2 Kings 3

Jehoram son of Ahab became king of Israel in the eighteenth year that Jehoshaphat was king of Judah. He ruled in the city of Samaria for twelve years.

1Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.

NoteAfter Solomon's death the kingdom split in two: ten northern tribes kept the name Israel, with Samaria as their capital, while the south, ruled by David's descendants, was called Judah, with Jerusalem as its capital. The two had separate kings, and events are dated by cross-reference, a northern king's reign is fixed by counting years into the reigning southern king's, and vice versa. Jehoram is also called Joram; the two are the same name.

2He did what the LORD said was evil, but not as badly as his father and mother had. He got rid of the stone pillar set up for the god Baal that his father had made.

2And he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD; but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made.

NoteBaal was the storm and fertility god worshiped across Canaan and Phoenicia. The "stone pillar" was a standing stone set upright at a shrine to mark the god's presence, a standard piece of Canaanite worship equipment, not a statue of a figure. Jehoram's mother is Jezebel, a Phoenician princess who had promoted Baal worship in Israel.

3Even so, he held on to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had led Israel into sin. Jehoram never turned away from them.

3Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.

NoteJeroboam was the first king of the breakaway northern kingdom, generations earlier. To stop his people traveling to the temple in Jerusalem, in the rival kingdom, he set up golden calf images at Bethel and Dan as places to worship the LORD. The books of Kings treat this as the founding sin of the north, and measure every later northern king against it.

4Mesha, the king of Moab, raised sheep. He had to hand over to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams.

4And Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster, and rendered unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool.

NoteThis is tribute, not trade. Moab, east of the Dead Sea, had been beaten in war and was a vassal state: it kept its own king but paid a heavy annual levy in livestock and wool to Israel to be left alone. Refusing to pay was itself the act of rebellion. A ninth-century BC inscription set up by this same King Mesha, found in 1868 and known as the Moabite Stone, gives Moab's own account of these wars.

5But after Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel and stopped paying.

5But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

6So at that time King Jehoram left Samaria and called up the whole army of Israel.

6And king Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time, and numbered all Israel.

7He sent this message to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah: "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you come with me to fight Moab?" Jehoshaphat answered, "I will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses."

7And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses.

Note"My people are your people, my horses are your horses" is a formal pledge of alliance, putting Judah's army and chariot force at Israel's disposal. Jehoshaphat of Judah was tied to the northern royal house by his son's marriage to Ahab's daughter.

8Then he asked, "Which road shall we take?" He answered, "The road through the desert of Edom."

8And he said, Which way shall we go up? And he answered, The way through the wilderness of Edom.

NoteThe direct route into Moab was from the north, across the river Arnon. The road through the desert of Edom swings far south around the bottom end of the Dead Sea to attack from the rear, longer, drier, and unexpected.

9So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out together. They took a long way around for seven days, and there was no water left for the army or for the animals with them.

9So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom: and they fetched a compass of seven days’ journey: and there was no water for the host, and for the cattle that followed them.

NoteEdom, south of Moab, was at this time under Judah's control, so its king joins the campaign as a subordinate ally rather than a free partner.

10The king of Israel said, "This is terrible! The LORD has called us three kings together only to hand us over to Moab!"

10And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!

11But Jehoshaphat said, "Isn't there a prophet of the LORD here, so we can ask the LORD through him?" One of the servants of the king of Israel said, "Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on Elijah's hands."

11But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD, that we may enquire of the LORD by him? And one of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah.

NoteTo "pour water on someone's hands" was an everyday phrase for being their personal attendant, the servant who poured water for the master to wash. It identifies Elisha as Elijah's former assistant and successor, which is why his word carries weight.

12Jehoshaphat said, "The word of the LORD is with him." So the king of Israel, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom went down to see him.

12And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the LORD is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

13But Elisha said to the king of Israel, "What do you and I have to do with each other? Go to your father's prophets and your mother's prophets." The king of Israel said, "No, because it is the LORD who has called us three kings together to hand us over to Moab."

13And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay: for the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab.

NoteAhab and Jezebel had kept hundreds of prophets of Baal and Asherah at court. Elisha's jab is that Jehoram should consult his parents' religious staff, not the LORD's prophet, in a crisis.

14Elisha said, "As surely as the LORD who commands armies lives, the one I serve, if I did not respect Jehoshaphat king of Judah for being here, I would not even look at you.

14And Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee.

Note"The LORD of hosts" means the LORD who commands armies, a title used especially in military settings. "Before whom I stand" is the language of a servant waiting on a king, marking Elisha as the LORD's attendant. "As the LORD lives" is the standard form of a solemn oath.

15But now bring me someone who plays the harp." While the musician played, the power of the LORD came on Elisha,

15But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.

NoteMusic was a recognized accompaniment to prophesying in Israel; bands of prophets are elsewhere described with harps, drums and pipes. The "hand of the LORD" coming on a prophet is the standard phrase for the moment the prophetic state begins.

16and he said, "This is what the LORD says: dig ditches all over this dry valley.

16And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches.

NoteThe valley is a wadi, a watercourse that stays bone dry most of the year and runs hard after rain falls somewhere upstream, often out of sight. The ditches are to catch and hold that water when it comes.

17For this is what the LORD says: you will not see any wind or any rain, yet this valley will fill up with water, and you will drink, you and your herds and your other animals.

17For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts.

18This is an easy thing for the LORD to do. He will also hand the Moabites over to you.

18And this is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand.

19You will attack every walled city and every important city. You will cut down every good tree, block up every spring of water, and ruin every good field by covering it with stones."

19And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

NoteFelling fruit and olive trees, plugging springs with rubble, and covering ploughland with stones are the standard methods of wrecking farmland so thoroughly that it cannot support people for years. This is deliberate destruction of the country's ability to feed itself, not just defeat of its army.

20The next morning, about the time the grain offering was presented, water came flowing from the direction of Edom, and the land was filled with water.

20And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

NoteThe morning grain offering was made daily at first light, so this fixes the time of day rather than describing anything the army did. "Meat offering" in the King James Version does not mean flesh: in 1611 "meat" meant food in general, and the offering here is of grain.

21All the Moabites had heard that the kings had come to fight them. So everyone old enough to carry weapons, young and old alike, was called up and posted at the border.

21And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able to put on armour, and upward, and stood in the border.

NoteThe King James phrase "all that were able to put on armour, and upward" describes a general call-up: everyone from the youngest able to bear arms on up, not just trained soldiers.

22They got up early in the morning, and the sun was shining on the water. To the Moabites across the way, the water looked as red as blood.

22And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood:

23They said, "That's blood! The kings must have fought and killed each other. Now, Moab, let's go take what they left behind!"

23And they said, This is blood: the kings are surely slain, and they have smitten one another: now therefore, Moab, to the spoil.

Note"To the spoil" means to the plunder, stripping the enemy dead and camp of weapons, valuables and supplies, which was the ordinary payoff of a victory.

24But when the Moabites reached the camp of Israel, the Israelites got up and attacked them, and the Moabites ran from them. The Israelites pushed on into Moab, striking them down.

24And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them: but they went forward smiting the Moabites, even in their country.

25They tore down the cities. Every man threw his stones on every good field until the fields were covered. They blocked up every spring and cut down every good tree. Only Kir-haraseth still had its stone walls standing, but men with slings surrounded it and attacked it.

25And they beat down the cities, and on every good piece of land cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the wells of water, and felled all the good trees: only in Kirharaseth left they the stones thereof; howbeit the slingers went about it, and smote it.

NoteKir-haraseth was Moab's main fortress city, high and walled, and the slingers could harass it but not take it. Slings were serious military weapons, worked by trained troops, not toys.

26When the king of Moab saw that the fighting was going against him, he took seven hundred swordsmen with him to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not do it.

26And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom: but they could not.

NoteThe Edomite contingent was the newest and least willing member of the alliance, and so the likeliest point to break through. Some ancient copies read "the king of Aram" (Syria) here instead of Edom, and it is not certain which the original said.

27So he took his oldest son, the one who was to be king after him, and offered him as a burnt offering on the city wall. Great anger came against Israel, so they pulled back from the king of Moab and went home to their own land.

27Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.

NoteMoab's national god was Chemosh, and a king offering his own heir as a burnt sacrifice is the most extreme appeal a besieged ruler could make. The Hebrew of the last part is deliberately open: it says only that great wrath, or fury, came upon Israel, without saying whose it was, Chemosh's, the LORD's, Moab's own desperate rage, or the horror of the watching armies. Translators have to choose; the original does not.