See in Reader
1019 B
1019 B
2 Kings 3 General Notes
Structure and formatting
The story of Elisha continues in this chapter.
Special concepts in this chapter
Victory and defeat
God is in control of victory and defeat. The armies of Israel, Judah and Edom united to attack Moab from the desert for failure to pay tribute. When they ran out of water, they were in desperate condition. Therefore, they asked Elisha (the prophet of God) what to do and he said God would give them water and victory over Moab. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/prophet)
Important figures of speech in this chapter
Idiom
They described Elisha with the idiom, "who poured water on the hands of Elijah," meaning "who served Elijah." (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-idiom)
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
Anger
It is said that, "Anger came on Israel." It is not clear who was angry or why they were angry.