2 Kings 3:11

3:11 Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here that we might seek the Lord’s direction?” ¹  One of the servants of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shapat is here; he used to be Elijah’s servant.” ² 

2 Kings 3:19

3:19 You will defeat every fortified city and every important ³  city. You must chop down ⁴  every productive ⁵  tree, stop up all the springs, and cover all the cultivated land with stones.” ⁶ 

2 Kings 3:25

3:25 They tore down the cities and each man threw a stone into every cultivated field until they were covered. ⁷  They stopped up every spring and chopped down every productive tree.

Only Kir Hareseth was left intact, ⁸  but the slingers surrounded it and attacked it.

¹ tn Heb “that we might inquire of the Lord through him?”

² tn Heb “who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” This refers to one of the typical tasks of a servant.

³ tn Heb “choice” or “select.”

⁴ tn Elisha places the object first and uses an imperfect verb form. The stylistic shift may signal that he is now instructing them what to do, rather than merely predicting what would happen.

⁵ tn Heb “good.”

⁶ tn Heb “and ruin every good portion with stones.”

⁵ tn Heb “and [on] every good portion they were throwing each man his stone and they filled it.” The vav + perfect (“and they filled”) here indicates customary action contemporary with the situation described in the preceding main clause (where a customary imperfect is used, “they were throwing”). See the note at 3:4.

⁶ tn Heb “until he had allowed its stones to remain in Kir Hareseth.”