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¹ Now Iehoram the sonne of Ahab began to raigne vpon Israel in Samaria the eyghtteenth yere of Iehosaphat king of Iuda, and raigned twelue yeres.² And he wrought euil in the sight of the Lorde, but not lyke his father and lyke his mother: for he put away the images of Baal that his father had made.³ Neuerthelesse, he cleaued vnto the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat which made Israel to sinne, and departed not therefrom.⁴ And Mesa king of Moab was a lorde of sheepe, and rendered vnto the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambes, and an hundred thousand rammes with the wooll.⁵ But when Ahab was dead, it fortuned that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

⁶ And king Iehoram went out of Samaria the same season, and numbred all Israel:⁷ And went, & sent to Iehosaphat the king of Iuda, saying: The king of Moab hath rebelled against me, wilt thou come with me against Moab in battell? He aunswered, I will come vp: for as I am, so art thou: and as my people be, so are thy people: & thy horses, as myne.⁸ And he saide: What way shall we go vp? And he aunswered: The way through the wildernesse of Edom.⁹ And so the king of Israel toke his iourney, and the king of Iuda, and the king of Edom: And when they had compassed the way seuen dayes, they had no water for the hoast, and for the cattayle that folowed them.¹⁰ And the king of Israel saide: Alas, the Lorde hath called these three kinges together, to deliuer them ouer into the hande of Moab.¹¹ But Iehosaphat said: Is there not here a prophete of the Lorde, that we maye enquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israels seruauntes aunswered and saide: Here is Elisa the sonne of Saphat, which powred water on the handes of Elias.¹² And Iehosaphat saide: The word of the Lorde is with him. And so the king of Israel, & Iehosaphat, and the king of Edom went downe to him.¹³ And Elias saide vnto the king of Israel: What haue I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophetes of thy father, & to the prophetes of thy mother. And the king of Israel saide vnto him, Oh naye: for the Lorde hath called these three kinges together, to deliuer them into the hand of Moab.¹⁴ And Elias saide: As the Lorde of hoastes liueth, in whose sight I stande, and it were not that I regarde the presence of Iehosaphat the king of Iuda, I would not loke towarde thee, nor yet see thee.¹⁵ But now bryng me a minstrell. And when the minstrell played, the hand of the Lorde came vpon him:¹⁶ And he sayde, thus saith the Lorde: Make this valley full of ditches:¹⁷ For thus saith the Lorde: Ye shall see neither wynde nor rayne, yet the valley shall be filled with water, that ye maye drinke, both ye, and your beastes, & your cattayle:¹⁸ And this is yet but a small thing in the sight of the Lorde, forasmuch as he wil geue ouer the Moabites also into your handes.¹⁹ And ye shal smite euery strong towne, and euery goodly citie, and shal fell euery pleasaunt tree, and stop euery well of water, and marre euery good platte of ground with stones.

²⁰ And in the morning when the meate offering was offered, beholde, there came water by the way of Edom, and the cuntrey was filled with water.²¹ And when al the Moabites heard that the kinges were come vp to fight against them, they gathered all that was able to put on harnesse, and stoode in the border of the lande:²² And they were vp earlie in the morning, and the sunne shone vpon the water, that the Moabites sawe the water a farre of as red as blood.²³ And they saide, This is the blood of slaughter: The kinges are slaine, & one haue smitten another: Now therefore Moab get thee to the spoyle.²⁴ And when they came to the hoast of Israel, the Israelites stoode vp & smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them: but they folowed vpon them and smote Moab,²⁵ And they ouerthrew the cities, and on euery good parcell of lande cast euery man his stone, and filled it, & they stopt all the welles of water, and feld all the good trees, onely in Kirharaseth left they the stones thereof: howbeit they went about it with slinges, & smote it.²⁶ And when the king of Moab saw that the battaile was to sore for him, he toke with him seuen hundred men that drew ye sword, to haue gone through [euen] vnto the king of Edom: but they could not.²⁷ And then he toke his eldest sonne that should haue raigned in his steade, and offered him for a burnt offering vpon the wall: And there was great indigtion against Israel, and they departed from him, and returned to their owne lande.