2 Kings 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: but they went forward smiting the Moabites, even in their country.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
came	וַיָּבֹאוּ֮ vai.ya.vo.'U	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
camp	מַחֲנֵ֣ה ma.cha.Neh	H4264	an encampment (of travellers or troops) · noun, common feminine singular construct
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
Israelites	יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
up	וַיָּקֻ֤מוּ vai.ya.Ku.mu	H6965	to rise (in various applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
smote	וַיַּכּ֣וּ vai.ya.Ku	H5221	to strike (lightly or severely · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Moabites	מוֹאָ֔ב mo.'Av	H4124	Moab · proper noun, a place name
fled	וַיָּנֻ֖סוּ vai.ya.Nu.su	H5127	to flit · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
before	מִפְּנֵיהֶ֑ם mi.pe.nei.Hem	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
forward	וַיַּכּוּ va.yako	H5221	to strike (lightly or severely · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
smiting	וְהַכּ֖וֹת ve.ha.Kot	H5221	to strike (lightly or severely · conjunction + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
Moabites	מוֹאָֽב mo.'Av	H4124	Moab · proper noun, a place name

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

Joshua 8:20-22 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee…
Judges 20:40-46 But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the flame of th…
1 Thessalonians 5:3-4 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 3:20–end

I. We have here the divine gift of both those things which God had promised by Elisha - water and victory, and the former not only a pledge of the latter, but a means of it. God, who created, and commands, all the waters, both above and beneath the firmament, sent them an abundance of water on a sudden, which did them double service. 1. It relieved their armies, which were ready to perish, Kg2 3:20. And, which was very observable, this relief came just at the time of the offering of the morning sacrifice upon the altar at Jerusalem, a certain time, and universally known. That time Elisha chose for his hour of prayer (it is likely looking towards the temple, for so there were to do in their p…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 3:20

when the meat offering was offered--that is, at the time of the morning sacrifice, accompanied, doubtless, with solemn prayers; and these led, it may be, by Elisha on this occasion, as on a similar one by Elijah (Kg1 18:36). behold, there came water by the way of Edom--Far from the Israelitish camp, in the eastern mountains of Edom, a great fall of rain, a kind of cloudburst, took place, by which the wady was at once filled, but they saw neither the wind nor the rains. The divine interposition was shown by introducing the laws of nature to the determined end in the predetermined way [KEIL]. It brought not only aid to the Israelitish army in their distress, by a plentiful supply of water, b…

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Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 3:23

Therefore, Moab, to the spoil - Thus they came on in a disorderly manner, and fell an easy prey to their enemies.

John Gill on 2 Kings 3:24

And when they came to the camp of Israel,.... Not in an orderly regular manner, in rank and file, as an army should march, but in a confused manner, everyone striving who should get thither first, and have the largest share of the booty: the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them; being prepared for them, they fell upon them sword in hand, and soon obliged them to flee: but they went forward smiting the Moabites, even in their country; they pursued them closely, and slew them as they fled, and followed them not only to their borders, but into their own country: though Schultens (m), from the use of the word in the Arabic language, renders the passage, "and…

The Church Fathers

When the Moabites came to plunder the camp, they convinced themselves that its ruins had been abandoned by their guards. Instead, Jehoshaphat and the kings with him suddenly rose up with drawn swords when they realized that their enemies were approaching and almost upon them. But the Moabites did not persist in their attack. They turned around and ran away because they had come unarmed. They had not come to fight, but to plunder. Therefore they scattered the army of their enemies by simply turning their weapons against them. Then they destroyed and laid waste the land bordering [the Moabites]. And finally, like an overflowing stream, they rushed in to attack Moab, cutting down their trees according to Elisha's order, stopping up the flowing springs, destroying the villages, and demolishing all their houses until they brought down their walls. They surrounded and demolished their fortresses, that is, knocked down the walls and scattered the rubble of the demolition.
— Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 3:23

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

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…
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…
Kir-haraseth — Built fortress, a city and fortress of Moab, the modern Kerak, a small town on the brow of a steep hill about 6 miles from Rabbath-Moab and 10 miles from the Dead Sea; called also Kir-haresh,…
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,…
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 — Israelites had war with

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

2 Kings 3:24

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 3:20–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 3:20

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 3:23

John Gill on 2 Kings 3:24

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

2 Kings 3:24

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 3:20–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 3:20

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 3:23

John Gill on 2 Kings 3:24

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Kings 3:4–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 2 Kings 3:24-25

Rashi on 2 Kings 3:22