2 Kings 3
1 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.
| ויהורם בן אחאב מלך על ישראל בשמרון בשנת שמנה עשרה ליהושפט מלך יהודה וימלך שתים עשרה שנה |
2 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.
| ויעשה הרע בעיני יהוה--רק לא כאביו וכאמו ויסר את מצבת הבעל אשר עשה אביו |
3 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.
| רק בחטאות ירבעם בן נבט אשר החטיא את ישראל--דבק לא סר ממנה |
4 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].
| ומישע מלך מואב היה נקד והשיב למלך ישראל מאה אלף כרים ומאה אלף אילים צמר |
5 But after King Ahab died, Mesha rebelled against the king of Israel.
| ויהי כמות אחאב ויפשע מלך מואב במלך ישראל |
6 So King Joram left Samaria and gathered together all his soldiers.
| ויצא המלך יהורם ביום ההוא--משמרון ויפקד את כל ישראל |
7 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.”
| וילך וישלח אל יהושפט מלך יהודה לאמר מלך מואב פשע בי--התלך אתי אל מואב למלחמה ויאמר אעלה כמוני כמוך כעמי כעמך כסוסי כסוסיך |
8 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.”
| ויאמר אי זה הדרך נעלה ויאמר דרך מדבר אדום |
9 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.
| וילך מלך ישראל ומלך יהודה ומלך אדום ויסבו דרך שבעת ימים ולא היה מים למחנה ולבהמה אשר ברגליהם |
10 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!”
| ויאמר מלך ישראל אהה--כי קרא יהוה לשלשת המלכים האלה לתת אותם ביד מואב |
11 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]
| ויאמר יהושפט האין פה נביא ליהוה ונדרשה את יהוה מאותו ויען אחד מעבדי מלך ישראל ויאמר פה אלישע בן שפט אשר יצק מים על ידי אליהו |
12 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.
| ויאמר יהושפט יש אותו דבר יהוה וירדו אליו מלך ישראל ויהושפט--ומלך אדום |
13 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.”
| ויאמר אלישע אל מלך ישראל מה לי ולך--לך אל נביאי אביך ואל נביאי אמך ויאמר לו מלך ישראל אל כי קרא יהוה לשלשת המלכים האלה לתת אותם ביד מואב |
14 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.
| ויאמר אלישע חי יהוה צבאות אשר עמדתי לפניו כי לולי פני יהושפט מלך יהודה אני נשא--אם אביט אליך ואם אראך |
15 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.
| ועתה קחו לי מנגן והיה כנגן המנגן ותהי עליו יד יהוה |
16 He said, “Yahweh says that he will cause this dry stream-bed to be full of water.
| ויאמר כה אמר יהוה עשה הנחל הזה גבים גבים |
17 The result will be that your soldiers and your animals that carry supplies and your livestock will have plenty of water to drink.
| כי כה אמר יהוה לא תראו רוח ולא תראו גשם והנחל ההוא ימלא מים ושתיתם אתם ומקניכם ובהמתכם |
18 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.
| ונקל זאת בעיני יהוה ונתן את מואב בידכם |
19 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.”
| והכיתם כל עיר מבצר וכל עיר מבחור וכל עץ טוב תפילו וכל מעיני מים תסתמו וכל החלקה הטובה תכאבו באבנים |
20 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.
| ויהי בבקר כעלות המנחה והנה מים באים מדרך אדום ותמלא הארץ את המים |
21 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.
| וכל מואב שמעו כי עלו המלכים להלחם בם ויצעקו מכל חגר חגרה ומעלה ויעמדו על הגבול |
22 But when they rose early the next morning, they saw that the water across from them appeared to be as red as blood.
| וישכימו בבקר והשמש זרחה על המים ויראו מואב מנגד את המים אדמים כדם |
23 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!”
| ויאמרו דם זה החרב נחרבו המלכים ויכו איש את רעהו ועתה לשלל מואב |
24 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.
| ויבאו אל מחנה ישראל ויקמו ישראל ויכו את מואב וינסו מפניהם ויבו (ויכו) בה והכות את מואב |
25 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.
| והערים יהרסו וכל חלקה טובה ישליכו איש אבנו ומלאוה וכל מעין מים יסתמו וכל עץ טוב יפילו עד השאיר אבניה בקיר חרשת ויסבו הקלעים ויכוה |
26 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.
| וירא מלך מואב כי חזק ממנו המלחמה ויקח אותו שבע מאות איש שלף חרב להבקיע אל מלך אדום--ולא יכלו |
27 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.
| ויקח את בנו הבכור אשר ימלך תחתיו ויעלהו עלה על החמה ויהי קצף גדול על ישראל ויסעו מעליו וישבו לארץ |
