Bible Strands

2 Kings 3:21

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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The narrator reports the Moabite reaction to the advancing coalition of kings, positioned chronologically between the miraculous water flow from Edom and the Moabites' visual misinterpretation of the sunlit water.

The words — שָֽמְעוּ (sha.me.'U) translates literally as “they had heard,” and עָל֥וּ ('a.Lu) means “they had come up,” anchoring the verse in the Moabites' awareness of the approaching royal forces.

The thread — The mobilization motif connects to the military warning in 1 Kings 20:11 about premature boasting and the readiness imperative in Ephesians 6:14 to stand firm.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to observe that confirmed threat triggers total demographic mobilization, demanding immediate border deployment without partial compliance.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְכָל־ve./kholand/ allמוֹאָב֙mo.'AvMoabשָֽׁמְע֔וּsha.me.'Uthey had heardכִּֽי־ki-thatעָל֥וּ'a.Luthey had come upהַמְּלָכִ֖יםha./me.la.Khimthe/ kingsלְהִלָּ֣חֶםle./hi.La.chemto/ fightבָּ֑םBa/magainst/ themוַיִּצָּעֲק֗וּva/i.yi.tza.'a.Kuand/ they were summonedמִכֹּ֨לmi./Kolfrom/ everyחֹגֵ֤רcho.Ger[one who] girds onחֲגֹרָה֙cha.go.Raha beltוָמַ֔עְלָהva./Ma'.la/hand/ up/ -wardsוַיַּעַמְד֖וּva/i.ya.'am.Duand/ they took their standעַֽל־'al-atהַגְּבֽוּל׃ha./ge.Vulthe/ border

King James Version

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.

Cross-references