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class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="http://biblehub.com/commentaries/">Commentaries</a> > 2 Kings 3:16</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_kings/3-15.htm" title="2 Kings 3:15">◄</a> 2 Kings 3:16 <a href="../2_kings/3-17.htm" title="2 Kings 3:17">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse">And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches.</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/barnes/2_kings/3.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/2_kings/3.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/2_kings/3.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/2_kings/3.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/2_kings/3.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a href="/commentaries/darby/2_kings/3.htm" title="Darby's Bible Synopsis">Darby</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ellicott/2_kings/3.htm" title="Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers">Ellicott</a> • <a href="/commentaries/expositors/2_kings/3.htm" title="Expositor's Bible">Expositor's</a> • <a href="/commentaries/edt/2_kings/3.htm" title="Expositor's Dictionary">Exp Dct</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gaebelein/2_kings/3.htm" title="Gaebelein's Annotated Bible">Gaebelein</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gsb/2_kings/3.htm" title="Geneva Study Bible">GSB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gill/2_kings/3.htm" title="Gill's Bible Exposition">Gill</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gray/2_kings/3.htm" title="Gray's Concise">Gray</a> • <a href="/commentaries/guzik/2_kings/3.htm" title="Guzik Bible Commentary">Guzik</a> • <a href="/commentaries/haydock/2_kings/3.htm" title="Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary">Haydock</a> • <a href="/commentaries/hastings/1_kings/19-11.htm" title="Hastings Great Texts">Hastings</a> • <a href="/commentaries/homiletics/2_kings/3.htm" title="Pulpit Homiletics">Homiletics</a> • <a href="/commentaries/jfb/2_kings/3.htm" title="Jamieson-Fausset-Brown">JFB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/kad/2_kings/3.htm" title="Keil and Delitzsch OT">KD</a> • <a href="/commentaries/king-en/2_kings/3.htm" title="Kingcomments Bible Studies">King</a> • <a href="/commentaries/lange/2_kings/3.htm" title="Lange 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(ENGLISH BIBLE)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/2_kings/3.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(16) <span class= "bld">Make.</span>—Right (infinitive, equivalent to an energetic imperative).<p><span class= "bld">Valley.</span>—<span class= "ital">Nahal</span>, wady, torrent-bed, gully. According to Thenius, “the brook Zered” of <a href="/deuteronomy/2-13.htm" title="Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered.">Deuteronomy 2:13</a> is meant; the present <span class= "ital">Wady el-Ahsy</span>, (or <span class= "ital">el-Hasa</span>) which forms the natural southern boundary of Moab, and from which several gorges lead up into the Moabite highlands. (See <a href="/isaiah/15-7.htm" title="Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.">Isaiah 15:7</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Full of ditches.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">pits, pits</span>. (Comp. <a href="/genesis/14-10.htm" title="And the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.">Genesis 14:10</a> : “Wells, wells of bitumen.”) The pits were to gather the water, which otherwise would soon have run away in the bed of the torrent (<a href="/context/jeremiah/14-3.htm" title="And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.">Jeremiah 14:3-4</a>). The style of the oracle is stamped with the liveliness and originality of historic truth.<p><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/benson/2_kings/3.htm">Benson Commentary</a></div><span class="bld"><a href="/context/2_kings/3-16.htm" title="And he said, Thus said the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches....">2 Kings 3:16-17</a>. </span><span class="ital">Make this valley full of ditches — </span>Which may receive the water and retain it, for the use of men and beasts. They that expect God’s blessings, must prepare room for them. <span class="ital">Ye shall not see wind — </span>Any of those winds which commonly bring rain. <span class="ital">Seeing </span>is here put for <span class="ital">perceiving </span>or <span class="ital">feeling; </span>the words belonging to one sense, being frequently applied to another. <span class="ital">Neither shall ye see rain — </span>Elijah, by prayer, obtained water from the sea and clouds: but Elisha fetches it nobody knows whence. God is not confined to second causes. Ordinarily it is by a <span class="ital">plentiful rain </span>that he <span class="ital">refreshes his inheritance: </span>but here it is done without any such means. <span class="ital">Yet that valley shall be filled with water — </span>That valley only, it seems, and no other place, however near or adjoining, which greatly increased the miracle.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/2_kings/3.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>3:6-19 The king of Israel laments their distress, and the danger they were in. He called these kings together, yet he charges it upon Providence. Thus the foolishness of man perverteth his way, and then his heart fretteth against the Lord, Pr 19:3. It was well that Jehoshaphat inquired of the Lord now, but it had been much better if he had done it before he engaged in this war. Good men sometimes neglect their duty, till necessity and affliction drive them to it. Wicked people often fare the better for the friendship and society of the godly. To try their faith and obedience, Elisha bids them make the valley full of pits to receive water. Those who expect God's blessings, must dig pools for the rain to fill, as in the valley of Baca, and thus make even that a well, Ps 84:6. We need not inquire whence the water came. God is not tied to second causes. They that sincerely seek for the dew of God's grace, shall have it, and by it be made more than conquerors.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/2_kings/3.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>Ditches - Or "pits" <a href="/jeremiah/14-3.htm">Jeremiah 14:3</a>. They were to dig pits in the broad valley or wady, wherein the water might remain, instead of flowing off down the torrent course. <a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/2_kings/3.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>16. Make this valley full of ditches—capable of holding water.<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/2_kings/3.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> Which may receive the water, and hold it for the use of men and beasts. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/2_kings/3.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>And he said, thus saith the Lord, make this valley full of ditches. In which the allied army lay encamped, that they might be ready to receive large quantities of water, sufficient for the whole army and cattle, when it came. <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/2_kings/3.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches.</span></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/2_kings/3.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">16</span>. <span class="ital">Make this valley full of ditches</span>] R.V. <span class="bld">trenches</span>. The valley was a torrent bed which in the time of rain would become suddenly flooded with the water from the steep sides, and from the watershed above. This would soon run away, and the excavations mentioned here seem to have been meant to dam up the water, and prevent its rapid escape, that so the army might be supplied for a good while if necessary.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/2_kings/3.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 16.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches</span>; rather, <span class="accented">full of pits</span> (<span class="greek">βοθύβους</span>, LXX.). The object was to detain the water which would otherwise have all run off down the torrent-course in a very little time. 2 Kings 3:16<a name="kad" id="kad"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/kad/2_kings/3.htm">Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament</a></div>He then sent for a minstrel, to collect his mind from the impressions of the outer world by the soft tones of the instrument, and by subduing the self-life and life in the external world to become absorbed in the intuition of divine things. On this influence of music upon the state of the mind, see the remark on <a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/16-16.htm">1 Samuel 16:16</a>, and Passavant's Untersuchungen ber den Lebens-magnetismus, p. 207 (ed. 2). - As the minstrel was playing, the hand of the Lord came upon him (והיה according to the later usage for ויהי, as in <a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/17-48.htm">1 Samuel 17:48</a>, etc.; compare Ewald, 345, b., and יהוה יד as in <a href="/1_kings/18-46.htm">1 Kings 18:46</a>), so that he said in the name of the Lord: "Make this valley full of trenches (עשׂה, inf. abs. for the imperative; for גּבים גּבים see Ges. 108, 4); for thus saith the Lord, ye will see neither wind nor rain, and this valley will be filled with water, that ye may be able to drink, and your flocks and your cattle." גּבים are trenches for collecting water (vid., <a href="/jeremiah/14-3.htm">Jeremiah 14:3</a>), which would suddenly flow down through the brook-valley. This large quantity of water came on the (following) morning "by the way of Edom" (<a href="/2_kings/3-20.htm">2 Kings 3:20</a>), a heavy fall of rain or violent storm having taken place, as is evident from the context, in the eastern mountains of Edom, at a great distance from the Israelitish camp, the water of which filled the brook-valley, i.e., the Wady el Kurahy and el Ahsy (see at <a href="/2_kings/3-9.htm">2 Kings 3:9</a>) at once, without the Israelites observing anything either of the wind, which always precedes rain in the East (Harmar, Beobb. i. pp. 51, 52), or of the rain itself. מקניכם are the flocks intended for slaughtering, בּהמתּכם the beasts of burden.<div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/2_kings/3-16.htm">2 Kings 3:16 Interlinear</a><br /><a href="/texts/2_kings/3-16.htm">2 Kings 3:16 Parallel Texts</a><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/niv/2_kings/3-16.htm">2 Kings 3:16 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/2_kings/3-16.htm">2 Kings 3:16 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/2_kings/3-16.htm">2 Kings 3:16 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/2_kings/3-16.htm">2 Kings 3:16 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/2_kings/3-16.htm">2 Kings 3:16 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://bibleapps.com/2_kings/3-16.htm">2 Kings 3:16 Bible Apps</a><br /><a href="/2_kings/3-16.htm">2 Kings 3:16 Parallel</a><br /><a href="http://bibliaparalela.com/2_kings/3-16.htm">2 Kings 3:16 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="http://holybible.com.cn/2_kings/3-16.htm">2 Kings 3:16 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="http://saintebible.com/2_kings/3-16.htm">2 Kings 3:16 French Bible</a><br /><a href="http://bibeltext.com/2_kings/3-16.htm">2 Kings 3:16 German Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td align="center"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><br /> </div> <div id="left"><a href="../2_kings/3-15.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="2 Kings 3:15"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="2 Kings 3:15" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../2_kings/3-17.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="2 Kings 3:17"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="2 Kings 3:17" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>