2 Kings 3:15-18

3:15 But now, get me a musician.” ¹  When the musician played, the Lord energized him, ²  3:16 and he said, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Make many cisterns in this valley,’ ³  3:17 for this is what the Lord says, ‘You will not feel ⁴  any wind or see any rain, but this valley will be full of water and you and your cattle and animals will drink.’ 3:18 This is an easy task for the Lord; ⁵  he will also hand Moab over to you.

2 Kings 8:3-6

8:3 After seven years the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went to ask the king to give her back her house and field. ⁶  8:4 Now the king was talking to Gehazi, the prophet’s ⁷  servant, and said, “Tell me all the great things which Elisha has done.” 8:5 While Gehazi ⁸  was telling the king how Elisha ⁹  had brought the dead back to life, the woman whose son he had brought back to life came to ask the king for her house and field. ¹⁰  Gehazi said, “My master, O king, this is the very woman and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life!” 8:6 The king asked the woman about it, and she gave him the details. ¹¹  The king assigned a eunuch to take care of her request and ordered him, ¹²  “Give her back everything she owns, as well as the amount of crops her field produced from the day she left the land until now.”

Genesis 14:24

14:24 I will take nothing ¹³  except compensation for what the young men have eaten. ¹⁴  As for the share of the men who went with me – Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre – let them take their share.”

Genesis 14:2

14:2 went to war ¹⁵  against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ¹⁶ 

Genesis 19:32-38

19:32 Come, let’s make our father drunk with wine ¹⁷  so we can have sexual relations ¹⁸  with him and preserve ¹⁹  our family line through our father.” ²⁰ 

19:33 So that night they made their father drunk with wine, ²¹  and the older daughter ²²  came and had sexual relations with her father. ²³  But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. ²⁴  19:34 So in the morning the older daughter ²⁵  said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. ²⁶  Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” ²⁷  19:35 So they made their father drunk ²⁸  that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. ²⁹  But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. ³⁰ 

19:36 In this way both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 19:37 The older daughter ³¹  gave birth to a son and named him Moab. ³²  He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. 19:38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi. ³³  He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.

[3:15]  ¹ tn The term used refers to one who plays a stringed instrument, perhaps a harp.

[3:15]  ² tn Heb “the hand of the Lord came on him.” This may refer to what typically happened, “[for] when a musician played, the hand of the Lord would come upon him.”

[3:16]  ³ tn Heb “making this valley cisterns, cisterns.” The Hebrew noun גֵּב (gev) means “cistern” in Jer 14:3 (cf. Jer 39:10). The repetition of the noun is for emphasis. See GKC 396 §123.e. The verb (“making”) is an infinitive absolute, which has to be interpreted in light of the context. The translation above takes it in an imperatival sense. The command need not be understood as literal, but as hyperbolic. Telling them to build cisterns is a dramatic way of leading into the announcement that he would miraculously provide water in the desert. Some prefer to translate the infinitive as an imperfect with the Lord as the understood subject, “I will turn this valley [into] many pools.”

[3:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “see.”

[3:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “and this is easy in the eyes of the Lord.”

[8:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “and went out to cry out to the king for her house and her field.”

[8:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “man of God’s.”

[8:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gehazi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and look, the woman whose son he had brought back to life was crying out to the king for her house and her field.”

[8:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the king asked the woman and she told him.”

[8:6]  ¹² tn Heb “and he assigned to her an official, saying.”

[14:24]  ¹³ tn The words “I will take nothing” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[14:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “except only what the young men have eaten.”

[14:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “made war.”

[14:2]  ¹⁶ sn On the geographical background of vv. 1-2 see J. P. Harland, “Sodom and Gomorrah,” The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, 1:41-75; and D. N. Freedman, “The Real Story of the Ebla Tablets, Ebla and the Cities of the Plain,” BA 41 (1978): 143-64.

[19:32]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “drink wine.”

[19:32]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and we will lie down.” The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive is subordinated to the preceding cohortative and indicates purpose/result.

[19:32]  ¹⁹ tn Or “that we may preserve.” Here the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates their ultimate goal.

[19:32]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”

[19:33]  ²¹ tn Heb “drink wine.”

[19:33]  ²² tn Heb “the firstborn.”

[19:33]  ²³ tn Heb “and the firstborn came and lied down with her father.” The expression “lied down with” here and in the following verses is a euphemism for sexual relations.

[19:33]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and he did not know when she lay down and when she arose.”

[19:34]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the firstborn.”

[19:34]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”

[19:34]  ²⁷ tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”

[19:35]  ²⁸ tn Heb “drink wine.”

[19:35]  ²⁹ tn Heb “lied down with him.”

[19:35]  ³⁰ tn Heb “And he did not know when she lied down and when she arose.”

[19:37]  ³¹ tn Heb “the firstborn.”

[19:37]  ³² sn The meaning of the name Moab is not certain. The name sounds like the Hebrew phrase “from our father” (מֵאָבִינוּ, me’avinu) which the daughters used twice (vv. 32, 34). This account is probably included in the narrative in order to portray the Moabites, who later became enemies of God’s people, in a negative light.

[19:38]  ³³ sn The name Ben-Ammi means “son of my people.” Like the account of Moab’s birth, this story is probably included in the narrative to portray the Ammonites, another perennial enemy of Israel, in a negative light.