列王纪下 3
Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified)
摩押王米沙叛
3 犹大王约沙法十八年，亚哈的儿子约兰在撒马利亚登基，做了以色列王十二年。 2 他行耶和华眼中看为恶的事，但不至像他父母所行的，因为除掉他父所造巴力的柱像。 3 然而，他贴近尼八的儿子耶罗波安使以色列人陷在罪里的那罪，总不离开。
4 摩押王米沙牧养许多羊，每年将十万羊羔的毛和十万公绵羊的毛给以色列王进贡。 5 亚哈死后，摩押王背叛以色列王。 6 那时约兰王出撒马利亚，数点以色列众人。 7 前行的时候，差人去见犹大王约沙法，说：“摩押王背叛我，你肯同我去攻打摩押吗？”他说：“我肯上去。你我不分彼此，我的民与你的民一样，我的马与你的马一样。” 8 约兰说：“我们从哪条路上去呢？”回答说：“从以东旷野的路上去。”
三王合攻摩押
9 于是，以色列王和犹大王并以东王都一同去。绕行七日的路程，军队和所带的牲畜没有水喝。 10 以色列王说：“哀哉！耶和华招聚我们这三王，乃要交在摩押人的手里！” 11 约沙法说：“这里不是有耶和华的先知吗？我们可以托他求问耶和华。”以色列王的一个臣子回答说：“这里有沙法的儿子以利沙，就是从前服侍以利亚的[a]。” 12 约沙法说：“他必有耶和华的话。”于是以色列王和约沙法并以东王都下去见他。
以利沙之训导与预言
13 以利沙对以色列王说：“我与你何干？去问你父亲的先知和你母亲的先知吧！”以色列王对他说：“不要这样说，耶和华招聚我们这三王，乃要交在摩押人的手里。” 14 以利沙说：“我指着所侍奉永生的万军耶和华起誓，我若不看犹大王约沙法的情面，必不理你，不顾你。 15 现在你们给我找一个弹琴的来。”弹琴的时候，耶和华的灵[b]就降在以利沙身上。 16 他便说：“耶和华如此说：你们要在这谷中满处挖沟。 17 因为耶和华如此说：你们虽不见风，不见雨，这谷必满了水，使你们和牲畜有水喝。 18 在耶和华眼中这还算为小事，他也必将摩押人交在你们手中。 19 你们必攻破一切坚城美邑，砍伐各种佳树，塞住一切水泉，用石头糟蹋一切美田。” 20 次日早晨，约在献祭的时候，有水从以东而来，遍地就满了水。
摩押人败遁
21 摩押众人听见这三王上来要与他们争战，凡能顶盔贯甲的，无论老少，尽都聚集站在边界上。 22 次日早晨，日光照在水上，摩押人起来，看见对面水红如血，就说： 23 “这是血啊！必是三王互相击杀，俱都灭亡。摩押人哪，我们现在去抢夺财物吧！” 24 摩押人到了以色列营，以色列人就起来攻打他们，以致他们在以色列人面前逃跑。以色列人往前追杀摩押人，直杀入摩押的境内， 25 拆毁摩押的城邑，各人抛石填满一切美田，塞住一切水泉，砍伐各种佳树，只剩下吉珥哈列设的石墙，甩石的兵在四围攻打那城。 26 摩押王见阵势甚大，难以对敌，就率领七百拿刀的兵，要冲过阵去到以东王那里，却是不能。 27 便将那应当接续他做王的长子，在城上献为燔祭。以色列人遭遇耶和华的大怒[c]，于是三王离开摩押王，各回本国去了。
2 Kings 3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
VII. Stories of Elisha and Joram[a]
Chapter 3
Reign of Joram of Israel. 1 Joram, son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years.[b]
2 (A)He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, though not like his father and mother. He did away with the pillar of Baal that his father had made, 3 but he still held fast unceasingly to the sins which Jeroboam, son of Nebat, caused Israel to commit.
War Against Moab: Drought. 4 [c]Now Mesha, king of Moab, who raised sheep, used to pay the king of Israel as tribute a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams. 5 But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 King Joram set out from Samaria and mustered all Israel. 7 (B)Then he sent Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, the message: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you come with me to Moab to fight?” He replied, “I will. You and I are as one, your people and my people, and your horses and my horses as well.” 8 He said, “By what route shall we attack?” and the other said, “By way of the wilderness of Edom.”
9 So the king of Israel set out, accompanied by the king of Judah and the king of Edom. After a roundabout journey of seven days the water gave out for the army and for the animals with them. 10 The king of Israel exclaimed, “Alas! The Lord has called three kings together only to deliver us into the power of Moab.” 11 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here through whom we may inquire of the Lord?” One of the servants of the king of Israel replied, “Elisha, son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah,[d] is here.” 12 Jehoshaphat agreed, “He has the word of the Lord.” So the king of Israel, along with Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom, went down to Elisha. 13 Elisha asked the king of Israel, “What do you want with me? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” The king of Israel replied, “No, the Lord has called these three kings together only to deliver us into the power of Moab.” 14 Then Elisha said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, whom I serve, were it not that I respect Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I should neither look at you nor notice you at all. 15 Now get me a minstrel.” When the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha, 16 and he announced: “Thus says the Lord: Provide many catch basins in this wadi. 17 For the Lord says: Though you will see neither wind nor rain, yet this wadi will be filled with water for you to drink, and for your livestock and pack animals. 18 And since the Lord does not consider this enough, he will also deliver Moab into your power. 19 You shall destroy every fortified city and every choice city, fell every fruit tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin every fertile field with stones.”(C)
20 In the morning, at the time of the sacrifice, water came from the direction of Edom and filled the land.
21 Meanwhile, all Moab had heard that the kings had come to war against them; troops from the youngest on up were mobilized and stationed at the border. 22 When they rose early that morning, the sun was shining across the water. The Moabites saw the water as red as blood, 23 and said, “This is blood! The kings have fought among themselves and killed one another. Quick! To the spoils, Moab!” 24 But when they reached the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and attacked the Moabites, who fled from them. They ranged through the countryside destroying Moab— 25 leveling the cities, each one casting the stones onto every fertile field and filling it, stopping up every spring, felling every fruit tree, until only the stones of Kir-hareseth[e] remained. Then the slingers surrounded and attacked it. 26 When he saw that the battle was going against him, the king of Moab took seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but he failed. 27 So he took his firstborn, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a burnt offering upon the wall. The wrath against Israel[f] was so great that they gave up the siege and returned to their own land.(D)
Footnotes
- 3:1–9:13 After the formulaic introduction to the reign of Joram of Israel, this section falls into two parts. The first contains several stories about the prophet Elisha, both in private and in public life. There are four longer stories, arranged in an ABBA pattern: drought during war with Moab (vv. 4–27), restoration of the Shunammite’s son (4:8–37), healing of Naaman (5:1–27), famine during war with Aram (6:24–7:20). The last three of these stories are each preceded and followed by short anecdotal tales about Elisha. The second part of this section turns to the political realm. Elisha carries out the Lord’s commissions to Elijah (1 Kgs 19:15–17) to anoint Hazael king of Aram (2 Kgs 8:7–15) and Jehu king of Israel (9:1–13). To prepare for the story of Jehu’s insurrection (9:14–11:20), the narrator places between those two narratives notices about the royal succession in Judah (8:16–24, 25–29). The formulaic conclusions to the reigns of Joram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah (8:25–29) are missing, since the deaths of both will be recounted in the story of Jehu’s insurrection.
- 3:1 The contradiction between 1:17 and v. 1 regarding the year when Joram succeeded Ahaziah of Israel makes any reconstruction of the chronology of Israel’s and Judah’s kings uncertain. Some scholars think that one or the other notice is simply incorrect. Others propose to explain the discrepancy by a co-regency: Jehoshaphat of Judah would have shared the throne with his son Joram from Jehoshaphat’s seventeenth year until he died in the twenty-fifth year of his reign (1 Kgs 22:42; see also 2 Kgs 8:16). The issue is further complicated by the speculation of some historians that “Joram of Israel” (“son” of Ahab of Israel: v. 1) and “Joram of Judah” (“son-in-law” of Ahab of Israel: 8:18) were in fact the same person, in whom the royal houses and separate realms of Israel and Judah were briefly reunited.
- 3:4 In the period of oral tradition, it seems that stories of kings were often told without identifying the kings by name. (Vestiges of this anonymity are still visible in 1 Kgs 3:16–28; 20:4–43; 22:1–38; 2 Kgs 6:8–7:20.) Names (such as “Ahab” in 1 Kgs 20:13–14; 22:20) were added later. As a consequence, the historical attachment of such stories to the kings about whom they are told is open to question. (See note on 1 Kgs 20:1–22:54.) The present story about a campaign against Moab by Joram and Jehoshaphat has several striking similarities to the campaign against Ramoth-gilead by Ahab and Jehoshaphat in 1 Kgs 22:1–38. There exists a Moabite inscription that contains Mesha’s self-aggrandizing account of his successful rebellion against Israel, but the times and places it mentions are different from those implied in vv. 4–27.
- 3:11 Poured water on the hands of Elijah: possibly a metaphor for “was Elijah’s servant.” But the phrase occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament and its meaning is not certain.
- 3:25 Kir-hareseth: a major city of Moab, identified with modern Kerak, east of the Dead Sea; cf. Is 16:7, 11; Jer 48:31, 36.
- 3:27 The wrath against Israel: probably the wrath of Chemosh, the Moabite god to whom the child was offered. The Israelites, intimidated by this wrath, retreat.
Copyright © 2011 by Global Bible Initiative
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.