II Kings 03
Elisha Saves Three Kings and Their Armies
1 Now Joram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father or his mother: for he removed the image of Baal that his father had made.
3 Yet he clung to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel to sin; he departed not from them.
4 Now Mesha the king of Moab was a hireling of cattle, and he paid the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams with their wool.
5 And it came to pass, when Ahab died, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
6 So Joram went out of Samaria at that time, and mustered all Israel.
7 Then he went and sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me; will you go with me to war against Moab?” He said, “I will go up, and I will be as you are, my people as your people, and my horses as your horses.”
8 He said, “Which way shall we go up?” He said, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom.”
9 So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out, and they went around for seven days, and there was no water for the army and the livestock that followed them.
10 Then the king of Israel said, “Oh, that the LORD has called these three kings to give them into the hands of Moab!”
11 And Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not a prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD by him?” Then one of the servants of the king of Israel answered, “Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, who poured water on Elijah’s hands.”
12 And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” Then the king of Israel, along with Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom, went down to him.
13 But Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No, for the Lord has called these three kings to deliver them into the hands of Moab.”
14 And Elisha said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, in whose presence I stand, if I did not respect the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you or see you.
15 Now therefore bring me a minstrel.” And it came to pass, as the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him.
16 And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches:
17 For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall see no wind, neither shall ye see rain: yet this valley shall be filled with water, that ye, and your cattle, and your beasts, shall drink.
18 And yet this is too little in the sight of the LORD: he will also deliver the Moabites into your hand.
19 And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city; and ye shall cut down every good tree, and stop up all the springs of water, and spoil all the good fields with stones.
20 And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that, behold, waters came by the way of Edom, and the land was filled with water.
21 And when all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, they summoned all that were girded with the girdle, and upward, and they stood at the border.
22 And they rose early in the morning, and the sun rose upon the waters, and the Moabites saw the waters before them red as blood.
23 And they said, This is blood; surely kings have slain one another with the sword, and have killed one another; now therefore to the prey, O Moabites!
24 But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, and they fled before them; and they smote them in their own land, and smote the Moabites there also.
25 And they razed the cities, and every man cast his stone into every good field, and filled them up; and they stopped up all the springs of water, and cut down all the good trees, until only at Kir-hareseth they left the stones remaining; but the slingers surrounded it and smote it.
26 But when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too great for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew swords to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not.
27 Then he took his eldest son, who was to have succeeded him as king, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. And there was great wrath in Israel; so they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.