2 *Kings 3

₁Joram, son of Ahab, became king_of_Israel in Samaria in the 18th year after Jehoshaphat had become king_of_Judah. Joram was king for 12 years. ₂He did things that the Lord said are wrong, but he was not as bad as his father and mother. He broke down the sacred_pillar of Baal that his father had made. ₃But he went on doing the sins that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had done. Jeroboam made the Israelites also do those sins.

₄King Mesha from Moab had lots of sheep. He had to give 100 000 lambs and the wool of 100 000 rams to the king_of_Israel every year. ₅But after King Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled_against the king_of_Israel. He did not want to pay taxes to him anymore. ₆King Joram took all the men of Israel and he went from Samaria to go to war. ₇He also sent a message to King Jehoshaphat of Judah and said: ‘The king of Moab has rebelled_against me. Please come with me to fight against the people of Moab.’ Jehoshaphat answered and said: ‘I will go with you. You can use my men and my horses. ₈What road will we take when we go to attack them?’ Joram said: ‘We will take the road through the Desert of Edom.’

₉The king_of_Israel, the king_of_Judah and the king of Edom went through the desert, but after 7 days they had no more water for their men or animals. ₁₀The king_of_Israel said: ‘I think the Lord has called the 3 of us to give us to the king of Moab as prisoners.’ ₁₁But Jehoshaphat said: ‘Is there a prophet of the Lord with us? We must ask the Lord what will happen.’ One of the king_of_Israel's officials answered: ‘Yes, Elisha, son of Shaphat, is here. He is the man who served Elijah.’

₁₂Jehoshaphat said: ‘Yes, we can ask Elisha. He will tell us what the Lord says.’ The 3 kings went to Elisha. ₁₃But Elisha said to the king_of_Israel: ‘Why do you come to me? Go to the prophets of your father and your mother.’ The king_of_Israel said: ‘No, we have asked you because I think it was the Lord who has called the 3 of us here to give us to the people of Moab.’ ₁₄Elisha said: ‘As sure as the Lord lives, who rules over all, the God for whom I work, I do not want to listen to you, but I do respect Jehoshaphat, the king_of_Judah, so I will do what you ask. ₁₅You must bring me someone who can play the lyre.’ They brought someone and while the man played the lyre, the Lord talked to Elisha ₁₆and Elisha told them: ‘The Lord said: “I will make this valley full of water.” ₁₇He said: “There will be no wind or rain, but this valley will be filled with water and you and your animals will have water to drink. ₁₈This is easy for the Lord to do. He will also help you defeat the Moabite people. ₁₉You will defeat all the cities that have strong walls. You will destroy all the big towns and cities and you will cut down the fruit trees and close the water-wells and fill the good ground with stones.” ’

₂₀The next morning when it was time for the priests to bring the grain-offering, there was a lot of water that came from Edom and the ground was covered with water. ₂₁They told the Moabite people that the 3 kings had come to fight in a war_against them and they called all their men who could fight. They came to the border of their land and stopped there. ₂₂When they got up the next morning they saw the sun shining red onto the water and the Moabites thought the water was red with blood. ₂₃They said: ‘This is blood. Maybe the 3 kings started to fight against each other and their men killed each other's men. Come, men from Moab, we must go and take all their things.’

₂₄But when the Moabites came to the tents of the Israelites, the Israelite men attacked them and defeated them and the men from Moab fled. ₂₅The Israelites destroyed their towns. They filled all the fertile fields with stones and closed all the water-wells and cut down all the trees. In the end there was only one town with walls that were still standing. It was Kir-Hareseth. But the men with slings attacked the town and they defeated it. ₂₆When the king of Moab saw that the 3 kings had defeated his men, he and 700 of his men who had swords tried to fight against the king of Edom. They tried to fight and open a way between the men of the 3 kings but they could not do it. ₂₇Then the king of Moab took his oldest son, who would have become king after him, and he sacrificed him as a burnt-offering to his gods on the wall. The Israelites were so shocked and upset that they went away, back to their land.