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2 Kings 3:5

in 2 Kings 3

But after the death of Ahab, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

KJV

But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

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This verse in 2 Kings 3

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. Who then was Ahaziah; but either through the pusillanimity of his temper, or the sickness that attended him, or the shortness of his reign, he took no steps to the reduction of him, or to oblige him to pay his tribute, which he neglected to do, and is meant by his rebellion.

This site's exposition

Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster

on 2 Kings 3:4-5

The tribute of lambs, rams and wool describes a pastoral kingdom paying in the coin it had, and Moab's rebellion follows Ahab's death the way vassal states test a new reign. The Moabite Stone, Mesha's own inscription found at Dibon in 1868, tells this same history from the other side: it names Omri by name as the king who afflicted Moab and boasts of Chemosh's deliverance in Mesha's own words. The traditional reading of the biblical account leads; the stele is independent evidence that the rebellion and its Israelite rulers were real events outside the text.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

king of Moab rebelled--This is a repetition of 2Ki 1:1, in order to introduce an account of the confederate expedition for crushing this revolt, which had been allowed to continue unchecked during the short reign of Ahaziah. ELISHA PROMISES WATER AND VICTORY OVER MOAB.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Mesha king of Moab, &c.--As his dominions embraced an extensive pasture country, he paid, as annual tribute, the wool of a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams. It is still common in the East to pay custom and taxes in the fruits or natural produce of the land.

The words behind it

8 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.

  • וַיְהִ֖יand it was

    vayhiH1961 →3559 times

  • כְּמ֣וֹתwhen died

    kemotH4194 →156 times

  • אַחְאָ֑בAhab

    ʾachavH256 →92 times

  • וַיִּפְשַׁ֥עand he rebelled

    vaiyifsha'H6586 →41 times

  • מֶֽלֶךְ־[the] king of

    melekh-H4428 →2525 times

  • מוֹאָ֖בMoab

    moavH4124 →181 times

  • בְּמֶ֥לֶךְagainst [the] king of

    bemelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃Israel

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

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

Related verses

5 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

    2 Kings 8:20

    In the days of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against the hand of Judah and appointed their own king.

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 8:22

      So to this day Edom has been in rebellion against the hand of Judah. Likewise, Libnah rebelled at the same time.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Kings 22:47

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

    • 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…

    • 2 Kings 3:27

      So he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him, and offered him as a burnt offering on the city wall. And there was great fury against the Israelites, so they withdrew and…

    • 2 Samuel 8:14

      He placed garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites were subject to David. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went.

  • Through

    2 Kings 1:1

    After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 8:2

      David also defeated the Moabites, made them lie down on the ground, and measured them off with a cord. He measured off with two lengths those to be put to death, and with one…

    • Numbers 24:7

      Water will flow from his buckets, and his seed will have abundant water. His king will be greater than Agag, and his kingdom will be exalted.

    • 1 Chronicles 18:2

      David also defeated the Moabites, and they became subject to David and brought him tribute.

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 Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Alfred Edersheim, Bible History: Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).

Read on in 2 Kings 3 →