2 Kings 3:19

And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
smite	וְהִכִּיתֶ֞ם ve.hi.ki.Tem	H5221	to strike (lightly or severely · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
fenced	מִבְצָר֙ miv.Tzar	H4013	a fortification · noun, common masculine singular absolute
city	עִ֤יר 'ir	H5892	a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · noun, common feminine singular construct
choice	מִבְח֔וֹר miv.Chor	H4004	select · noun, common masculine singular absolute
city	עִ֣יר 'ir	H5892	a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · noun, common feminine singular construct
fell	תַּפִּ֔ילוּ ta.Pi.lu	H5307	to fall · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
good	טוֹב֙ tOv	H2896	good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
tree	עֵ֥ץ 'etz	H6086	a tree (from its firmness) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
stop	תִּסְתֹּ֑מוּ tis.To.mu	H5640	to stop up · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
wells	מַעְיְנֵי ma'.ye.nei-	H4599	a fountain (also collectively) · noun, common masculine plural construct
water	מַ֖יִם Ma.yim	H4325	water · noun, common masculine plural absolute
mar	תַּכְאִ֖בוּ takh.'I.vu	H3510	properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
good	הַטּוֹבָ֔ה ha.to.Vah	H2896	good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · definite article + adjective, feminine singular absolute
piece	הַחֶלְקָ֣ה ha.chel.Kah	H2513	properly · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
stones	בָּאֲבָנִֽים ba.'a.va.Nim	H68	a stone · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine plural absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Numbers 24:17 I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel…
Deuteronomy 20:19-20 When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe…
Judges 6:16 And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.
1 Samuel 15:3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox an…
1 Samuel 23:2 Therefore David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the LORD said unto David, Go, and smite the Philis…
2 Kings 3:25 And they beat down the cities, and on every good piece of land cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the wells of wa…
2 Kings 13:17 And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the LORD’s delivera…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 3:6-19

Jehoram has no sooner got the sceptre into his hand than he takes the sword into his hand, to reduce Moab. Crowns bring great cares and perils to the heads that wear them; no sooner in honour than in war. Now here we have, I. The concerting of this expedition between Jehoram king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah. Jehoram levied an army (Kg2 3:6), and such an opinion he had of the godly king of Judah that, 1. He courted him to be his confederate: Wilt thou go with me against Moab? And he gained him. Jehoshaphat said, I will go up. I am as thou art, Kg2 3:7. Judah and Israel, though unhappily divided from each other, yet can unite against Moab a common enemy. Jehoshaphat upbraids them n…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 3:17

Ye shall not see wind--It is common in the East to speak of seeing wind, from the clouds of straw, dust, or sand, that are often whirled into the air, after a long drought.

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 3:19

Shall fell every good tree - Every tree by which your enemies may serve themselves for fortifications, etc. But surely fruit trees are not intended here; for this was positively against the law of God, Deu 20:19, Deu 20:20 : "When thou shalt besiege a city - thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof - for the tree of the field is man's life - only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down." Stop all wells of water - In those hot countries this would lead sooner than any thing else to reduce an enemy. Mar every good piece of land with stones - Such a multitude of men, each throwing a stone on a good field as they passed, would completely…

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John Gill on 2 Kings 3:19

And ye shall smite every fenced city and every choice city,.... That is, the inhabitants of them with the sword, and demolish them also, 2 Kings 3:25, and shall fell every good tree; which seems contrary to the law in Deuteronomy 20:19, but that may respect trees belonging to a city when besieged only, or only to Canaanitish cities; or the law was now dispensed with, and that for this time only, to make the punishment of Moab the greater, for their rebellion and other sins: and stop all wells of water; which must be very distressing to those that survived the calamity of the sword: and mar every good piece of land with stones; as that it could not be ploughed and sowed, nor anything spring…

Dictionary and topics

Colour — The subject of colours holds an important place in the Scriptures. White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words. It is applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa. 1:18),…
Elisha — God his salvation, the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, who became the attendant and disciple of Elijah (1 Kings 19:16-19). His name first occurs in the command given to Elijah to anoint him as his…
Jehoram — Jehovah-exalted. (1.) Son of Toi, king of Hamath, sent by his father to congratulate David on the occasion of his victory over Hadadezer (2 Sam. 8:10). (2.) A Levite of the family of Gershom (1 Chr.…
Jehoshaphat — Jehovah-judged. (1.) One of David’s body-guard (1 Chr. 11:43). (2.) One of the priests who accompanied the removal of the ark to Jerusalem (1 Chr. 15:24). (3.) Son of Ahilud, “recorder” or annalist…
Media — Heb. Madai, which is rendered in the Authorized Version (1) “Madai,” Gen. 10:2; (2) “Medes,” 2 Kings 17:6; 18:11; (3) “Media,” Esther 1:3; 10:2; Isa. 21:2; Dan. 8:20; (4) “Mede,” only in Dan. 11:1.…
Moabite Stone — A basalt stone, bearing an inscription by King Mesha, which was discovered at Dibon by Klein, a German missionary at Jerusalem, in 1868. It was 3 1/2 feet high and 2 in breadth and in thickness,…
Stone — Stones were commonly used for buildings, also as memorials of important events (Gen. 28:18; Josh. 24:26, 27; 1 Sam. 7:12, etc.). They were gathered out of cultivated fields (Isa. 5:2; comp. 2 Kings…
Temple, Solomon’s — Before his death David had “with all his might” provided materials in great abundance for the building of the temple on the summit of Mount Moriah (1 Chr. 22:14; 29:4; 2 Chr. 3:1), on the east of the…
Zoar — Small, a town on the east or south-east of the Dead Sea, to which Lot and his daughters fled from Sodom (Gen. 19:22, 23). It was originally called Bela (14:2, 8). It is referred to by the prophets…
Moabites · Israelites had war with

2 Kings 3:19

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 3:6-19

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 3:17

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 3:19

John Gill on 2 Kings 3:19

Dictionary and topics

2 Kings 3:19

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 3:6-19

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 3:17

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 3:19

John Gill on 2 Kings 3:19

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Kings 3:4–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 2 Kings 3:18-20

Rashi on 2 Kings 3:19