Old Testament · History

2 Kings chapter 3

son of Ahab became over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he ruled for twelve years.He did , though not as badly as his father and mother had. He did remove the that his father had made.But he still the of Jeroboam son of Nebat — the ones that dragged Israel into . He never turned away from them.Now king of Moab was a , and he used to pay to the king of Israel — a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams.But when Ahab died, the king of Moab against the king of Israel.So King Jehoram marched out of Samaria at that time and all of Israel.He also sent word to king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you come fight Moab with me?” Jehoshaphat replied, “I’ll go. Consider me and my forces yours — .”Then he asked, “Which route should we take?” Jehoram answered, “Through the .”So the king of Israel set out, along with the king of Judah and the . After circling around for , there was no water left for the army or for the animals they had with them.The king of Israel said, “! Yahweh has these three kings together just to hand us over to Moab!”But Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn’t there a of Yahweh here we could consult?” One of the king of Israel’s officers answered, “ son of Shaphat is here — the one who used to .”Jehoshaphat said, “.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to see him.Elisha said to the king of Israel, “? Go ask !” But the king of Israel said to him, “No — because Yahweh has called these three kings together to hand us over to Moab.”Elisha replied, “As lives — — if it weren’t for my respect for Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I wouldn’t even look at you or acknowledge you.”“Now bring me a .” And as the musician played, Elisha,and he said, “: ‘Dig this valley full of .’“For this is what Yahweh says: ‘You won’t see , and you won’t see rain, but this valley will fill with water. You’ll drink — you, your livestock, and your .’”“And even that is . He will also hand Moab over to you.”“You will every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up every spring, and .”And it happened in the morning, right when the was being presented, that suddenly , and the land was filled with water.Meanwhile, all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. — from the youngest soldier to the oldest — was called up and .When they got up early the next morning, the sun was shining on the water, and the Moabites across the way saw .They said, “That’s blood! The kings must have and slaughtered one another! Now then, Moab — !”But when they reached the Israelite camp, the Israelites them, and the Moabites before them. The Israelites advanced, striking down the Moabites as they went.They tore down the cities, and each soldier threw a stone onto every productive field until they were covered. They stopped up every spring and cut down every good tree. Only was left standing, but even that the surrounded and attacked.When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took and tried to to the king of Edom, but they couldn’t get through.Then he took — the one who would have been the next king — and sacrificed him as a on the city wall. , and they from him and returned to their own land.