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2 Kings 3:21

in 2 Kings 3

Now all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. So all who could bear arms, young and old, were summoned and stationed at the border.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Now when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all that were able to put on armor, and upward, and stood on the border.

KJV

And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able to put on armour, and upward, and stood in the border.

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This verse in 2 Kings 3

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

stood in the border

on 2 Kings 3:21-23

Moab gathers everyone able to bear arms, old and young, and stands at the border to meet the invasion. The next morning's sun turns the standing water red, and the Moabites read it as three armies that destroyed one another in the night rather than as sunrise on a flood, a misreading that draws them off their guard toward the spoil. The narrator gives no comment on the mistake beyond letting its consequence follow in the next verse.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), promising themselves that it would be easy dealing with an army fatigued by so long a march through the wilderness of Edom. But see here, (1.) How easily they were drawn into their own delusions. Observe the steps of their self-deceit. [1.] They saw the water in the valley where the army of Israel encamped, and conceited it was blood (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation

And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

And stood in the border - On the north side of the wady, ready to defend their territory.

The words behind it

16 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְכָל־and all

    vekholH3605 →5413 times

  • מוֹאָב֙Moab

    moavH4124 →181 times

  • שָֽׁמְע֔וּthey had heard

    shameuH8085 →1159 times

  • כִּֽי־that

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • עָל֥וּthey had come up

    ʾaluH5927 →890 times

  • הַמְּלָכִ֖יםthe kings

    hamelakhimH4428 →2525 times

  • לְהִלָּ֣חֶםto fight

    lehilachemH3898 →177 times

  • בָּ֑םagainst them

    bam

  • וַיִּצָּעֲק֗וּand they were summoned

    vaiyitzaakuH6817 →55 times

  • מִכֹּ֨לfrom every

    mikolH3605 →5413 times

  • חֹגֵ֤ר[one who] girds on

    chogerH2296 →44 times

  • חֲגֹרָה֙a belt

    chagorahH2290 →

  • וָמַ֔עְלָהand up -wards

    vama'lahH4605 →

  • וַיַּעַמְד֖וּand they took their stand

    vaiyaamduH5975 →521 times

  • עַֽל־at

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הַגְּבֽוּל׃the border

    hagevulH1366 →240 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

2 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Ephesians 6:14

    Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed,

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 59:17

      He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in a cloak of zeal.

    • 1 Thessalonians 5:8

      But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of our hope of salvation.

    • Isaiah 11:5

      Righteousness will be the belt around His hips, and faithfulness the sash around His waist.

    • Luke 12:35

      Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning.

    • 2 Corinthians 6:7

      in truthful speech and in the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;

  • Through

    1 Kings 20:11

    And the king of Israel replied, “Tell him: ‘The one putting on his armor should not boast like one taking it off.’”

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 27:1

      Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

    • Isaiah 10:15–16

      Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or…

    • 1 Samuel 17:44–47

      “Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Kings

Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
2 Kings: the study guide →Read 2 Kings 3 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 2 Kings 3 →