2 Kings 3:24

24 When Moab entered the camp of Israel, the Israelites were up on their feet killing Moabites right and left, the Moabites running for their lives, Israelites relentless in pursuit - a slaughter.

2 Kings 3:24 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 3:24

And when they came to the camp of Israel
Not in an orderly regular manner, in rank and file, as an army should march, but in a confused manner, everyone striving who should get thither first, and have the largest share of the booty:

the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before
them;
being prepared for them, they fell upon them sword in hand, and soon obliged them to flee:

but they went forward smiting the Moabites, even in their country;
they pursued them closely, and slew them as they fled, and followed them not only to their borders, but into their own country: though Schultens {m}, from the use of the word (hbn) in the Arabic language, renders the passage, "and they blunted their swords in it (in that slaughter), even by smiting the Moabites".


FOOTNOTES:

F13 De Defect. Hod. Ling. Heb. sect. 26.

2 Kings 3:24 In-Context

22 They were up and ready early in the morning when the sun rose over the water. From where the Moabites stood, the water reflecting the sun looked red, like blood.
23 "Blood! Look at the blood!" they said. "The kings must have fought each other - a bloody massacre! Go for the loot, Moab!"
24 When Moab entered the camp of Israel, the Israelites were up on their feet killing Moabites right and left, the Moabites running for their lives, Israelites relentless in pursuit - a slaughter.
25 They leveled the towns, littered the cultivated fields with rocks, clogged the springs, and clear-cut the orchards. Only the capital, Kir Hareseth, was left intact, and that not for long; it too was surrounded and attacked with thrown and flung rocks.
26 When the king of Moab realized that he was fighting a losing battle, he took seven hundred swordsmen to hack a corridor past the king of Edom, but they didn't make it.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.