2 Kings 3

1 Nowe Iehoram the sonne of Ahab beganne to reigne ouer Israel in Samaria, the eighteenth yeere of Iehoshaphat King of Iudah, and reigned twelue yeeres.

After Jehoshaphat had been ruling Judah for almost 18 years, Ahab’s son Joram became the king of Israel. He ruled in Samaria [city] for twelve years.

2 And he wrought euill in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father nor like his mother: for he tooke away the image of Baal that his father had made.

He did things that Yahweh considered to be evil, but he did not do as much evil as his father and mother had done, and he got rid of the pillar [for worshiping] Baal which his father had made.

3 Neuerthelesse, he cleaued vnto the sinnes of Ieroboam, the sonne of Nebat, which made Israel to sinne, and departed not therefrom.

But he committed the sins that [King] Jeroboam had committed and which led the Israeli people to sin, and he did not stop committing those sins.

4 Then Mesha King of Moab had store of sheepe, and rendred vnto the King of Israel an hundreth thousande lambes, and an hundreth thousande rammes with the wooll.

Mesha, the king of Moab, raised sheep. [Every year] he was forced to give 100,000 lambs and the wool from 100,000 rams to the king of Israel, [because his kingdom was controlled by the king of Israel].

5 But when Ahab was dead, the king of Moab rebelled against the King of Israel.

But after King Ahab died, Mesha rebelled against the king of Israel.

6 Therefore King Iehoram went out of Samaria the same season, and nombred all Israel,

So King Joram left Samaria and gathered together all his soldiers.

7 And went, and sent to Iehoshaphat King of Iudah, saying, The King of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou goe with me to battell against Moab? And he answered, I will goe vp: for I am, as thou art, my people, as thy people, and mine horses as thine horses.

Then he sent this message to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. So will your army join my army and fight against the army of Moab?” Jehoshaphat replied, “Yes, we will help you. We are ready to do whatever you want us to. My soldiers and my horses are ready to help you.”

8 Then said he, What way shall we goe vp? And he answered, The way of the wildernesse of Edom.

He asked, “On which road shall we march to attack them?” Joram replied, “We will go [south to Jerusalem, where your army will join us. Then we will all go south of the Dead Sea, and then turn north] through the Edom Desert.”

9 So went the King of Israel and the king of Iudah, and the King of Edom, and when they had compassed the way seuen dayes, they had no water for the hoste, nor for the cattell that followed them.

So the king of Israel [and his army] went with the kings of Judah and Edom [and their armies]. They marched for seven days. Then there was no water left for their soldiers or for their animals that carried supplies.

10 Therefore the King of Israel sayde, Alas, that the Lord hath called these three Kings, to giue them into the hand of Moab.

The king of Israel exclaimed, “This is a terrible situation! [It seems that] Yahweh will allow the three of us to be captured by [the army of] [MTY] Moab!”

11 But Iehoshaphat saide, Is there not here a Prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? And one of the King of Israels seruants answered, and said, Here is Elisha the sonne of Shaphat, which powred water on the handes of Eliiah.

Jehoshaphat said, “Is there a prophet here who can ask Yahweh for us [what we should do]?” One of Joram’s army officers said, “Elisha, the son of Shaphat, is here. He was Elijah’s assistant.” [IDM]

12 Then Iehoshaphat saide, The worde of the Lord is with him. Therefore the King of Israel, and Iehoshaphat, and the King of Edom went downe to him.

Jehoshaphat said, “[It will be good to ask him, because] he speaks what Yahweh tells him to say.” So those three kings went to Elisha.

13 And Elisha sayde vnto the King of Israel, What haue I to doe with thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father and to the prophets of thy mother. And the King of Israel saide vnto him, Nay: for the Lord hath called these three Kings, to giue them into the hande of Moab.

Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Why do you come to me [RHQ]? Go and ask those prophets that your father and mother consulted!” But Joram replied, “No, [we want you to ask Yahweh, because it seems that] Yahweh is going to allow us three kings to be captured by the army of Moab.”

14 Then Elisha said, As the Lord of hostes liueth, in whose sight I stande, if it were not, that I regarde the presence of Iehoshaphat the King of Iudah, I woulde not haue looked towarde thee, nor seene thee.

Elisha replied, “I serve Yahweh, the commander of the armies of angels in heaven. As surely as he lives, if I did not respect Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not even think about doing anything to help you.

15 But nowe bring me a minstrel. And when the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came vpon him.

But, bring a musician to me.” [So they did that]. And when the musician played [on his harp], the power of Yahweh came on Elisha.

16 And he saide, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches.

He said, “Yahweh says that he will cause this dry stream-bed to be full of water.

17 For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall neither see winde nor see raine, yet the valley shalbe filled with water, that ye may drinke, both ye and your cattel, and your beastes.

The result will be that your soldiers and your animals that carry supplies and your livestock will have plenty of water to drink.

18 But this is a small thing in the sight of the Lord: for he will giue Moab into your hande.

That is not difficult for Yahweh to do. [But he will do more than that]. He will also enable you to defeat [the army of] Moab.

19 And ye shall smite euery strong towne and euery chiefe citie, and shall fell euery faire tree, and shall stoppe all the fountaines of water, and marre euery good fielde with stones.

You will conquer all their beautiful cities, cities that have high walls around them. You must cut down all their fruit trees, stop water from flowing from their springs, and ruin their fertile fields by covering them with rocks.”

20 And in the morning whe the meat offring was offred, beholde, there came water by the way of Edom: and the countrey was filled with water.

The next morning, at the time when they offered the sacrifices [of grain], they were surprised to see water flowing from Edom and covering the ground.

21 And when al the Moabites heard that the Kings were come vp to fight against them, they gathered all that was able to put on harnesse, and vpwarde, and stood in their border.

When the people of Moab heard that the three kings had come [with their armies] to fight against them, all the men who were able to fight in battles, from the youngest men to the oldest ones, were summoned, and they (took their positions/prepared to fight) at the [southern] border of their land.

22 And they rose earely in the morning, when the sunne arose vpon the water, and the Moabites saw the water ouer against them, as red as blood.

But when they rose early the next morning, they saw that the water across from them appeared to be as red as blood.

23 And they saide, This is blood the Kings are surely slaine, and one hath smitten another: now therefore, Moab, to the spoyle.

They exclaimed, “It is blood! The three enemy armies must have fought and killed each other! So let’s go and take everything that they have left!”

24 And when they came to the host of Israel, the Israelites arose vp, and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them, but they inuaded them, and smote Moab.

But when they reached the area where the Israeli soldiers had set up their tents, the Israelis attacked the soldiers from Moab and forced them to retreat. The Israeli soldiers pursued the soldiers from Moab and killed many of them.

25 And they destroyed the cities: and on all the good field euery man cast his stone, and filled them and they stopt all the fountaines of water, and felled all the good trees: onely in Kirharaseth left they the stones thereof: howebeit they went about it with slings, and smote it.

The Israelis also destroyed their cities. And whenever they passed fertile fields, they threw rocks on those fields, until the fields were covered with rocks. They stopped water from flowing from the springs and cut down the fruit trees. Finally, only [the capital city, ] Kir-Hareseth, remained. The Israeli soldiers who threw stones with slings surrounded the city and attacked it.

26 And when the King of Moab saw that the battel was too sore for him, he tooke with him seuen hudreth men that drew the sword, to break through vnto the King of Edom: but they could not.

When the king of Moab realized that his army was being defeated, he took with him 700 men who fought with swords, and they tried to force a way through the Israeli lines of soldiers to escape to [get help from] the king of Syria, but they were unable to escape.

27 Then he tooke his eldest sonne, that should haue reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offring vpon the wall: so that Israel was sore grieued, and they departed from him, and returned to their countrey.

Then the king of Moab took his oldest son, who would have become the next king, and killed him and offered him for a sacrifice [to their god Chemosh], burning him on top of the city wall. The Israeli soldiers were horrified, with the result that they left that city and returned to their own country.