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2 Kings 3:22

in 2 Kings 3

When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water, and it looked as red as blood to the Moabites across the way.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water over against them as red as blood:

KJV

And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood:

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This verse in 2 Kings 3

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Saw the water on the other side as red as blood - This might have been an optical deception; I have seen the like sight when there was no reason to suspect supernatural agency. The Moabites had never seen that valley full of water, and therefore did not suspect that their eyes deceived them, but took it for the blood of the confederate hosts, who they thought might have fallen into confusion in the darkness of night and destroyed each other, as the Midianites had formerly done, Jdg 7:22, and the Philistines lately, 1Sa 14:20.

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 Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 3:25 · Written before 373.

proposed

"The kings fought together and killed one another." After the water had come and the armies of Jehoshaphat and his allied kings had drunk their fill, the Moabites, who had seen that the water was red, said this. But they were wrong, because the color …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

But, this making the water look red, their own fancies, which made them willing to believe what made for them, suggested, This is blood, God permitting them thus to impose upon themselves. [2.] If their camp was thus full of blood, they conclude, "Certainly the kings have fallen out (as confederates of different interests are apt to do) and they have slain one another (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes

And they rose up early in the morning,.... To watch the motions of their enemies, and be upon their guard against them: and the sun shone upon the water; with which the valley was filled: and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood; so it appeared through the rays of the sun reflected on it.

The words behind it

13 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.

  • וַיַּשְׁכִּ֣ימוּand they rose early

    vaiyashkimuH7925 →65 times

  • בַבֹּ֔קֶרin the morning

    vabokerH1242 →214 times

  • וְהַשֶּׁ֖מֶשׁand the sun

    vehashemeshH8121 →134 times

  • זָרְחָ֣הit shone

    zarechahH2224 →

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הַמָּ֑יִםthe water

    hamayimH4325 →581 times

  • וַיִּרְא֨וּand they saw

    vaiyiruH7200 →1300 times

  • מוֹאָ֥בMoab

    moavH4124 →181 times

  • מִנֶּ֛גֶדfrom before

    minegedH5048 →151 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַמַּ֖יִםthe water

    hamayimH4325 →581 times

  • אֲדֻמִּ֥יםred

    ʾadumimH122 →

  • כַּדָּֽם׃like <the> blood

    kadamH1818 →360 times

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

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; Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 3:25; 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 →