3: 2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, but not like his father, and like his mother; for he put away the 13pillar of Baal that his father had made.
13Or, obelisk
3: 3 Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, wherewith he made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.
3: 4 Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-master; and he rendered unto the king of Israel 14the wool of a hundred thousand lambs, and of a hundred thousand rams.
14Or, hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams, with the wool.
3: 5 But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
3: 6 And king Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time, and mustered all Israel.
3: 7 And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.
3: 8 And he said, Which way shall we go up? And he answered, The way of the wilderness of Edom.
3: 9 So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom; and they made a circuit of seven days’ journey: and there was no water for the host, nor for the beasts that followed them.
3: 10 And the king of Israel said, Alas! for Jehovah hath called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.
3: 11 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah, that we may inquire of Jehovah by him? And one of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.
3: 12 And Jehoshaphat said, The word of Jehovah is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
3: 13 And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, No; for Jehovah hath called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.
3: 14 And Elisha said, As Jehovah of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee.
3: 15 But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of Jehovah came upon him.
3: 16 And he said, Thus saith Jehovah, Make this valley full of trenches.
3: 17 For thus saith Jehovah, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, and ye shall drink, both ye and your cattle and your beasts.
3: 18 And this is but a light thing in the sight of Jehovah: he will also deliver the Moabites into your hand.
3: 19 And ye shall smite every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all fountains of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.
3: 20 And it came to pass in the morning about the time of offering the oblation, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.
3: 21 Now when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they 15gathered themselves together, all that were able to 16put on armor, and upward, and stood on the border.
15Or, were called together,
16Hb. gird themselves with a girdle,
3: 22 And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water over against them as red as blood:
3: 23 and they said, This is blood; the kings 17are surely destroyed, and they have smitten each man his fellow: now therefore, Moab, to the spoil.
17Or, have surely fought together,
3: 24 And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them; and they went 18forward into the land smiting the Moabites.
18Hb. into it and smote Moab.
3: 25 And they beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land they cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the fountains of water, and felled all the good trees, until in Kir-hareseth only they left the stones thereof; howbeit the slingers went about it, and smote it.
3: 26 And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew sword, to break through unto the king of Edom; but they could not.
3: 27 Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall. And 19there was great wrath against Israel: 20and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.
19Or, there came great wrath upon Israel: The role of the crown prince, and any demands Israel may have made concerning him, are not easily inferred here. But see the Moabite-stone footnote below.
20King Mesha of Moab commemorated his rebellion and violence in a stone discovered in 1868, largely corroborating the account above: I am Mesha, son of Chemosh-[...], king of Moab, the Dibonite – my father had reigned over Moab thirty years, and I reigned after my father, – who made this high place for Chemosh in Qarhoh [...] because he saved me from all the kings and caused me to triumph over all my adversaries. As for Omri, king of Israel, he humbled Moab many years (lit. days), for Chemosh was angry at his land. And his son [Ahab] followed him and he also said, “I will humble Moab.” In my time he spoke thus, but I have triumphed over him and over his house, while Israel* hath perished for ever! Now Omri had occupied the land of Medeba, and Israel had dwelt there in his time and half the time of his son, forty years [ago ?]; but Chemosh dwelt there in my time. And I built Baal-meon, making a reservoir in it, and I built Qaryaten. Now the men of Gad had always dwelt in the land of Ataroth, and the king of Israel had built Ataroth for them; but I fought against the town and took it and slew all the people of the town as satiation (intoxication) for Chemosh and Moab. And I brought back from there Arel (or, Oriel), its chieftain, dragging him before Chemosh in Kerioth, and I settled there men of Sharon and men of Maharith. And Chemosh said to me, “Go, take Nebo from Israel!” So I went by night and fought against it from the break of dawn until noon, taking it and slaying all, seven thousand men, boys, women, girls and maid-servants, for I had devoted them to destruction for the god Ashtar-Chemosh. And I took from there the [...] of Jehovah, dragging them before Chemosh. And the king of Israel had built Jahaz, and he dwelt there while he was fighting against me, but Chemosh drove him out before me. And I took from Moab two hundred men, all first class warriors, and set them against Jahaz and took it in order to attach it to the district of Dibon. It was I who built Qaroh, the wall of the forests (?) and the wall of the citadel... And I cut beams (?) for Qarhoh with Israelite captives. ... [James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 2nd edn.; Princeton: 1955. p. 320.] *Possibly written the year after Ahab’s sons were all slain. chs. 9-10.
