2 Kings 3:4

Contextual Overview

¹Joram son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria during the eighteenth year of Judah’s King Jehoshaphat, and he reigned twelve years. ¹ Now Yehoram the son of Ach'av began to reign over Yisra'el in Shomron in the eighteenth year of Yehoshafat king of Yehudah, and reigned twelve years. ¹ Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. ¹ In the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twelve years. ¹ Joram son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria in Jehoshaphat's eighteenth year as king of Judah. And Joram ruled twelve years. ¹ In the eighteenth year of King Jehoshaphat's reign over Judah, Ahab's son Jehoram became king over Israel in Samaria; he ruled for twelve years. ¹Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. ¹ Now Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned for twelve years. ¹ Nowe Iehoram the sonne of Ahab beganne to reigne ouer Israel in Samaria, the eighteenth yeere of Iehoshaphat King of Iudah, and reigned twelue yeeres. ¹Now Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a sheepmaster: Genesis 13:2, Genesis 26:13, Genesis 26:14, 2 Chronicles 26:10, Job 1:3, Job 42:12

rendered: 2 Samuel 8:2, 1 Chronicles 18:2, Psalms 60:8, Psalms 108:9, Psalms 108:10

lambs: Isaiah 16:1

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 13:23 - sheepshearers 2 Kings 1:1 - after the 2 Chronicles 17:11 - brought Ecclesiastes 2:7 - also

Cross-References

Genesis 3:13
The LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Genesis 3:13
And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Genesis 3:13
Then Yahweh God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Genesis 3:13
Then the Lord God said to the woman, "How could you have done such a thing?" She answered, "The snake tricked me, so I ate the fruit."

Genesis 3:13
So the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman replied, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate."

Genesis 3:13
Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent beguiled and deceived me, and I ate [from the forbidden tree]."

Genesis 3:13
Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Genesis 3:13
And the Lorde God saide to the woman, Why hast thou done this? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eate.

Genesis 3:13
Then Yahweh God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Genesis 3:13
The Lord God then asked the woman, "What have you done?" "The snake tricked me," she answered. "And I ate some of that fruit."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Mesha king of Moab was a sheep master,.... With which his country abounded; he kept great numbers of them, and shepherds to take care of them; he traded in them, and got great riches by them; his substance chiefly consisted in them:

and rendered unto the king of Israel: either as a present, or as an annual tribute:

an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool; that is, upon them, unshorn, and so the more valuable; and it was usual for tributary nations to pay their tribute to those to whom they were subject in such commodities which they most abounded with; so the Cappadocians, as Strabo c relates, used to pay, as a tribute to the Persians, every year, 1500 horses and 2000 mules, and five myriads of sheep, or 50,000; and formerly, Pliny d says, the only tribute was from the pastures.

c Geograph. l. 11. p. 362. d Nat. Hist. l. 18. c. 3.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Moab, the region immediately east of the Dead Sea and of the lower Jordan, though in part suited for agriculture, is in the main a great grazing country. Mesha resembled a modern Arab Sheikh, whose wealth is usually estimated by the number of his flocks and herds. His tribute of the wool of 100, 000 lambs was a tribute in kind, the ordinary tribute at this time in the East.

Mesha is the monarch who wrote the inscription on the “Moabite stone” (2 Kings 1:1 note). The points established by the Inscription are:

1. That Moab recovered from the blow dealt by David 2Sa 8:2, 2 Samuel 8:12, and became again an independent state in the interval between David’s conquest and the accession of Omri;

2. That Omri reconquered the country, and that it then became subject to the northern kingdom, and remained so throughout his reign and that of his son Ahab, and into the reign of Ahab’s son and successor, Ahaziah;

3. That the independence was regained by means of a war, in which Mesha took town after town from the Israelites, including in his conquests many of the towns which, at the original occupation of the holy land, had passed into the possession of the Reubenites or the Gadites, as Baal-Meon Numbers 32:38, Kirjathaim Numbers 32:37, Ataroth Numbers 32:34, Nebo Numbers 32:38, Jahaz Joshua 13:18, etc.;

4. That the name of Yahweh was well known to the Moabites as that of the God of the Israelites; and

5. That there was a sanctuary of Yahweh at Nebo, in the Trans-Jordanic territory, where “vessels” were used in His service.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Kings 3:4. Was a sheepmaster — The original is נקד naked, of which the Septuagint could make nothing, and therefore retained the Hebrew word νωκηδ: but the Chaldee has מרי גיתי marey githey, "a sheepmaster;" Aquila has ποιμνιοτροφος; and Symmachus, τρεφων βοσκηματα; all to the same sense. The original signifies one who marks or brands, probably from the marking of sheep. He fed many sheep, &c., and had them all marked in a particular way, in order to ascertain his property.

A hundred thousand lambs — The Chaldee and Arabic have a hundred thousand fat oxen.