2 Kings 3:19

Contemporary English Version

You will capture all their walled cities and important towns. You will chop down every good tree and stop up every spring of water, then ruin their fertile fields by covering them with rocks.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then you will attack every fortified city and every choice city. You will cut down every good tree and stop up every spring. You will ruin every good piece of land with stones.”

Hebrew Names Version
You shall strike every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

King James Version
And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

English Standard Version
and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones."

New Century Version
You will destroy every strong, walled city and every important town. You will cut down every good tree and stop up all springs. You will ruin every good field with rocks."

New English Translation
You will defeat every fortified city and every important city. You must chop down every productive tree, stop up all the springs, and cover all the cultivated land with stones."

Amplified Bible
'You shall strike every fortified city and every choice (principal) city, and cut down every good tree and stop up all sources of water, and ruin every good piece of land with stones.'"

New American Standard Bible
'Then you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and cut down every good tree and stop up all the springs of water, and spoil every good plot of land with stones.'"

Geneva Bible (1587)
And ye shal smite euery strong towne and euery chiefe citie, and shall fell euery faire tree, & shall stoppe all the fountaines of water, & marre euery good fielde with stones.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and fell every good tree and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.'"

Complete Jewish Bible
You will conquer every fortified city and every choice town, you will chop down every good tree, stop up every well and ruin every good field with stones."

Darby Translation
And ye shall smite every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

Easy-to-Read Version
You will attack every strong city and every good city. You will cut down every good tree. You will stop up all the springs of water. You will ruin every good field with stones."

George Lamsa Translation
And you shall destroy every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and pollute all the springs of water and mar every good piece of land with stones.

Good News Translation
You will conquer all their beautiful fortified cities; you will cut down all their fruit trees, stop all their springs, and ruin all their fertile fields by covering them with stones."

Lexham English Bible
and you shall defeat every fortified city, every choice city, and you shall fell every good tree. All of the springs of water you shall stop up, and every tract of good land you shall ruin with the stones."

Literal Translation
And you shall strike every fortified city, and every choice city. And you shall fell every good tree, and you shall stop all the fountains of water. And you shall mar every good lot with stones.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
so yt ye shal smyte all the stronge cities, and all ye chosen cities & shal fell downe all the good trees, and stoppe all the welles of water and all the good feldes shall ye make waist with stones.

American Standard Version
And ye shall smite every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all fountains of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

Bible in Basic English
And you are to put every walled town to destruction, cutting down every good tree, and stopping up every water-spring, and making all the good land rough with stones.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And ye shal smite euery strong towne, and euery goodly citie, and shal fell euery pleasaunt tree, and stop euery well of water, and marre euery good platte of ground with stones.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And ye shall smite every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all fountains of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.'

King James Version (1611)
And ye shall smite euery fenced citie, and euery choice citie, and shall fell euery good tree, and stop all welles of water, and marre euery good piece of land with stones.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And ye shall smite every strong city, and ye shall cut down every good tree, and ye shall stop all wells of water, and spoil every good piece of land with stones.

English Revised Version
And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all fountains of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

Berean Standard Bible
And you shall attack every fortified city and every city of importance. You shall cut down every good tree, stop up every spring, and ruin every good field with stones."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and ye schulen smyte ech strengthid citee, and ech chosun citee, and ye schulen kitte doun ech tre berynge fruyt, and ye schulen stoppe alle the wellis of watris, and ye schulen hile with stonys ech noble feeld.

Young's Literal Translation
and ye have smitten every fenced city, and every choice city, and every good tree ye cause to fall, and all fountains of waters ye stop, and every good portion ye mar with stones.'

Update Bible Version
And you shall smite every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all fountains of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

Webster's Bible Translation
And ye shall smite every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

World English Bible
You shall strike every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

New King James Version
Also you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall cut down every good tree, and stop up every spring of water, and ruin every good piece of land with stones."

New Living Translation
You will conquer the best of their towns, even the fortified ones. You will cut down all their good trees, stop up all their springs, and ruin all their good land with stones."

New Life Bible
Then you will destroy every strong city and cut down every good tree. You will close all the wells of water, and destroy every good piece of land with stones."

New Revised Standard
You shall conquer every fortified city and every choice city; every good tree you shall fell, all springs of water you shall stop up, and every good piece of land you shall ruin with stones."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And ye shall smite every strong city, and every choice city, and, every goodly tree, shall ye fell, and, all fountains water, shall ye close up, - and, every goodly heritage, shall ye mar with stones.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And you shall destroy every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall cut down every fruitful tree, and shall stop up all the springs of waters, and every goodly field you shall cover with stones.

Revised Standard Version
and you shall conquer every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop up all springs of water, and ruin every good piece of land with stones."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
'Then you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and fell every good tree and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.'"

Contextual Overview

⁶ One day, Joram left Samaria and called together Israel's army. ⁷ He sent this message to King Jehoshaphat of Judah, "The king of Moab has rebelled. Will you go with me to attack him?" "Yes, I will," Jehoshaphat answered. "I'm on your side, and my soldiers and horses are at your command. ⁸ But which way should we go?" "We will march through Edom Desert," Joram replied. ⁹ So Joram, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom led their troops out. But seven days later, there was no drinking water left for them or their animals. ¹⁰ Joram cried out, "This is terrible! The Lord must have led us out here to be captured by Moab's army." ¹¹ Jehoshaphat said, "Which of the Lord 's prophets is with us? We can find out from him what the Lord wants us to do." One of Joram's officers answered, "Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He was one of Elijah's closest followers." ¹² Jehoshaphat replied, "He can give us the Lord 's message." The three kings went over to Elisha, ¹³ and he asked Joram, "Why did you come to me? Go talk to the prophets of the foreign gods your parents worshiped." "No," Joram answered. "It was the Lord who led us out here, so that Moab's army could capture us." ¹⁴ Elisha said to him, "I serve the Lord All-Powerful, and as surely as he lives, I swear I wouldn't even look at you if I didn't respect King Jehoshaphat." ¹⁵ Then Elisha said, "Send for someone who can play the harp." The harpist began playing, and the Lord gave Elisha this message for Joram:

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

And ye: 2 Kings 13:17, Numbers 24:17, Judges 6:16, 1 Samuel 15:3, 1 Samuel 23:2

fell: Deuteronomy 20:19, Deuteronomy 20:20

mar: Heb. grieve, 2 Kings 3:25

Cross-References

Genesis 3:12
"It was the woman you put here with me," the man said. "She gave me some of the fruit, and I ate it."

Genesis 3:13
The Lord God then asked the woman, "What have you done?" "The snake tricked me," she answered. "And I ate some of that fruit."

Genesis 3:16
Then the Lord said to the woman, "You will suffer terribly when you give birth. But you will still desire your husband, and he will rule over you."

Genesis 3:21
Then the Lord God made clothes out of animal skins for the man and his wife.

Genesis 3:22
The Lord said, "These people now know the difference between right and wrong, just as we do. But they must not be allowed to eat fruit from the tree that lets them live forever."

Genesis 18:27
Abraham answered, "I am nothing more than the dust of the earth. Please forgive me, Lord , for daring to speak to you like this.

Genesis 23:4
"I live as a foreigner in your land, and I don't own any property where I can bury my wife. Please let me buy a piece of land."

Job 1:21
and said: "We bring nothing at birth; we take nothing with us at death. The Lord alone gives and takes. Praise the name of the Lord !"

Job 19:26
My flesh may be destroyed, yet from this body I will see God.

Job 21:26
But we all end up dead, beneath a blanket of worms.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And ye shall smite every fenced city and every choice city,.... That is, the inhabitants of them with the sword, and demolish them also, 2 Kings 3:25, and shall fell every good tree; which seems contrary to the law in Deuteronomy 20:19, but that may respect trees belonging to a city when besieged only, or only to Canaanitish cities; or the law was now dispensed with, and that for this time only, to make the punishment of Moab the greater, for their rebellion and other sins:

and stop all wells of water; which must be very distressing to those that survived the calamity of the sword:

and mar every good piece of land with stones; as that it could not be ploughed and sowed, nor anything spring up and grow upon it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ye shall fell every good tree - This is not an infringement of the rule laid down in Deuteronomy 20:19-20. The Israelites were not forbidden to fell the fruit trees in an enemy’s country, as a part of the ravage of war, when they had no thoughts of occupying the country. The plan of thus injuring an enemy was probably in general use among the nations of these parts at the time. We see the destruction represented frequently on the Assyrian monuments and mentioned in the inscriptions of Egypt.

And stop all wells of water - The stoppage of wells was a common feature of ancient, and especially Oriental, warfare (compare Genesis 26:15-18).

Mar ... with stones - The exact converse of that suggested in Isaiah 5:2. The land in and about Palestine is so stony that the first work of the cultivator is to collect the surface stones together into heaps. An army marching through a land could easily undo this work, dispersing the stones thus gathered, and spreading them once more over the fields.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Kings 3:19. Shall fell every good tree — Every tree by which your enemies may serve themselves for fortifications, c. But surely fruit trees are not intended here for this was positively against the law of God, Deuteronomy 20:19-20: "When thou shalt besiege a city - thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof - for the tree of the field is man's life - only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down."

Stop all wells of water — In those hot countries this would lead sooner than any thing else to reduce an enemy.

Mar every good piece of land with stones. — Such a multitude of men, each throwing a stone on a good field as they passed, would completely destroy it.