²⁵ They destroyed their cities, and all of them threw stones onto every piece of farm^[a] land, ruining the fields.^[b] Then they filled in all the water wells^[c] and chopped down all of the useful^[d] trees. Stone walls remained surrounding Kir-hareseth only, until the archers surrounded and attacked that city. ²⁶ When the king of Moab realized that the battle was going strongly against him, he took 700 expert swordsmen to attempt to break through to the king of Edom, but was unable to do so. ²⁷ So he took his firstborn son, whom he intended to reign after him, and offered him up as a burnt offering on the wall. There subsequently came great anger against Israel, so they abandoned the attack and returned to their homeland.