2 Kings 1:1

Elijah Confronts the King and His Commanders

1:1 After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel.¹

2 Kings 3:24

3:24 When they approached the Israelite camp, the Israelites rose up and struck down the Moabites, who then ran from them. The Israelites² thoroughly defeated³ Moab.

2 Kings 3:5

3:5 When Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

2 Kings 3:18

3:18 This is an easy task for the Lord;⁴ he will also hand Moab over to you.

2 Kings 13:20

13:20 Elisha died and was buried.⁵ Moabite raiding parties invaded⁶ the land at the beginning of the year.⁷

2 Kings 3:7

3:7 He sent⁸ this message to King Jehoshaphat of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you fight with me against Moab?” Jehoshaphat⁹ replied, “I will join you in the campaign; my army and horses are at your disposal.”¹⁰

2 Kings 3:4

3:4 Now King Mesha of Moab was a sheep breeder.¹¹ He would send as tribute¹² to the king of Israel 100,000 male lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams.

2 Kings 3:10

3:10 The king of Israel said, “Oh no!¹³ Certainly the Lord has summoned these three kings so that he can hand them over to the king of Moab!”

2 Kings 3:21-23

3:21 Now all Moab had heard that the kings were attacking,¹⁴ so everyone old enough to fight was mustered and placed at the border.¹⁵ 3:22 When they got up early the next morning, the sun was shining on the water. To the Moabites, who were some distance away, the water looked red like blood. 3:23 The Moabites¹⁶ said, “It’s blood! The kings are totally destroyed!¹⁷ They have struck one another down! Now, Moab, seize the plunder!”

2 Kings 3:13

3:13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Why are you here?¹⁸ Go to your father’s prophets or your mother’s prophets!” The king of Israel replied to him, “No, for the Lord is the one who summoned these three kings so that he can hand them over to Moab.”

2 Kings 3:26

3:26 When the king of Moab realized he was losing the battle,¹⁹ he and 700 swordsmen tried to break through and attack²⁰ the king of Edom, but they failed.

2 Kings 23:13

23:13 The king ruined the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Destruction,²¹ that King Solomon of Israel had built for the detestable Sidonian goddess Astarte, the detestable Moabite god Chemosh, and the horrible Ammonite god Milcom.

2 Kings 24:2

24:2 The Lord sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, as he had warned he would do through his servants the prophets.²²

¹sn This statement may fit better with the final paragraph of 1 Kgs 22.

²tn Heb “they.”

³tc The consonantal text (Kethib) suggests, “and they went, striking down,” but the marginal reading (Qere) is “they struck down, striking down.” For a discussion of the textual problem, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 46.

³tn Heb “and this is easy in the eyes of the Lord.”

⁴tn Heb “and they buried him.”

⁵tn Heb “entered.”

⁶tc The MT reading בָּא שָׁנָה (ba’ shanah), “it came, year,” should probably be emended to בְּבָּא הַשָּׁנָה (bÿba’ hashanah), “at the coming [i.e., ‘beginning’] of the year.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 148.

⁵tn Heb “went and sent.”

⁶tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehoshaphat) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷tn Heb “I will go up – like me, like you; like my people, like your people; like my horses; like your horses.”

⁶tn For a discussion of the meaning of term (נֹקֵד, noqed), see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 43.

⁷tn The vav + perfect here indicates customary action contemporary with the situation described in the preceding main clause. See IBHS 533-34 §32.2.3e.

⁷tn Or “ah.”

⁸tn Heb “had come up to fight them.”

⁹tn Heb “and they mustered all who tied on a belt and upwards, and they stood at the border.”

⁹tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Moabites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰tn The translation assumes the verb is חָרַב (kharav, “to be desolate”). The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb form for emphasis. (For another example of the Hophal infinitive with a Niphal finite verb, see Lev 19:20. Cf. also IBHS 582 §35.2.1c.) Some prefer to derive the verb from a proposed homonym meaning “at HALOT 349 s.v. II חרב and BDB 352 s.v. חָרְבָה).

¹⁰tn Or “What do we have in common?” The text reads literally, “What to me and to you?”

¹¹tn Heb “and the king of Moab saw that the battle was too strong for him.”

¹²tn Heb “he took with him seven hundred men, who drew the sword, to break through against.”

¹²sn This is a derogatory name for the Mount of Olives, involving a wordplay between מָשְׁחָה (mashÿkhah), “anointing,” and מַשְׁחִית (mashÿkhit), “destruction.” See HALOT 644 s.v. מַשְׁחִית and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 289.

¹³tn Heb “he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by the hand of his servants the prophets.”