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2 Kings 3:26

in 2 Kings 3

When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not prevail.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew sword, to break through unto the king of Edom; but they could not.

KJV

And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom: but they could not.

This verse in 2 Kings 3

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Seven hundred men - These were no doubt the choice of all his troops, and being afraid of being hemmed up and perhaps taken by his enemies, whom he found on the eve of gaining possession of the city, he made a desperate sortie in order to regain the open country; and supposing that the quarter of the Edomites was weakest, or less carefully guarded, he endeavored to make his impression there; but they were so warmly received by the king of Edom that they failed in the attempt, and were driven back into the city.

This site's exposition

seven hundred men that drew swords

on 2 Kings 3:26-27

Mesha's sortie toward the king of Edom fails, and with the city about to fall he offers his own heir, the son who should have reigned in his stead, as a burnt offering on the wall where the besiegers can see it. What follows, there was great indignation against Israel, is a genuine crux and the readings differ on whose indignation it names. Wesley reads it as Israel's own horror and grief at having driven a father to this, ending the war in revulsion at what their siege had provoked; Barnes names the same possibility alongside another, that Judah and Edom were indignant at Israel specifically for causing the pollution of such a sacrifice; and the Hebrew word for wrath elsewhere names the LORD's own anger, at Num 1:53 and Josh 22:20, which Keil weighs as a live if unproven third reading. The text does not say which, and the campaign ends there, the kings withdrawing to their own land.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 3:25-27 · Written before 373.

proposed

Therefore Mesha, who had lost all his hope in his armies, made an about-face to ask the gods for help, because he had seen that no human being could help him. Certain wise men of his country said to him that it was necessary to …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

3 Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom. 4 And Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster, and rendered unto the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams, with the wool. 5 But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:97%@v3-5

And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

To break through, even unto the king of Edom - Either because he thought that the king of Edom would connive at his escape or to take vengeance on him for having deserted his former allies (2Ki 3:8 note).

The words behind it

20 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.

  • וַיַּרְא֙and he saw

    vaiyar'H72001300 times

  • מֶ֣לֶךְ[the] king of

    melekhH44282525 times

  • מוֹאָ֔בMoab

    moavH4124181 times

  • כִּֽי־that

    ki-H35884482 times

  • חָזַ֥קit was [too] strong

    chazakH2388291 times

  • מִמֶּ֖נּוּfor him

    mimenuH44801188 times

  • הַמִּלְחָמָ֑הthe battle

    hamilchamahH4421320 times

  • וַיִּקַּ֣חand he took

    vaiyikachH3947966 times

  • א֠וֹתוֹ<obj.> him

    ʾotoH854929 times

  • שְׁבַע־seven

    sheva'-H7651394 times

  • מֵא֨וֹתhundred<s>

    meotH3967581 times

  • אִ֜ישׁman

    ʾishH3761663 times

  • שֹׁ֣לֵֽף[who] drew

    sholefH8025

  • חֶ֗רֶבa sword

    cherevH2719413 times

  • לְהַבְקִ֛יעַto break through

    lehavkia'H123451 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • מֶ֥לֶךְ[the] king of

    melekhH44282525 times

  • אֱד֖וֹםEdom

    ʾedomH12399 times

  • וְלֹ֥אand not

    velo'H38085168 times

  • יָכֹֽלוּ׃they were able

    yakholuH3201194 times

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

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

    Amos 2:1

    This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Moab, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he burned to lime the bones of Edom’s king.

    it leads to

    • Zephaniah 2:8–9

      “I have heard the reproach of Moab and the insults of the Ammonites, who have taunted My people and threatened their borders.

    • Amos 1:3

      This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron.

    • Ezekiel 25:8–9

      This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Moab and Seir said, “Look, the house of Judah is like all the other nations,”

    • 2 Kings 3:26–27

      When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not prevail.

    • Isaiah 25:10

      For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trodden into the dung pile.

  • Through

    2 Kings 3:9

    So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out, and after they had traveled a roundabout route for seven days, they had no water for their army…

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 22:47

      And there was no king in Edom; a deputy served as king.

    • Exodus 15:22

      Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the Desert of Shur. For three days they walked in the desert without finding water.

    • Numbers 21:5

      and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Kings

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 3:25-27; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.