Jump to a verse
2 Kings 3:21–27, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
2 Kings 3:21–27
Moab is devastated and Mesha sacrifices his heir
Blood-colored water and a king's unthinkable offering
Moab hears that the kings have come up and stands on the border. The rising sun makes the water look like blood. They conclude the coalition has destroyed itself and rush the camp for spoil. Israel rises, strikes Moab, wrecks towns, stones fields, stops springs, and fells trees, until only Kir-hareseth's stone wall is left, surrounded by slingers.
Mesha tries to break through to the king of Edom, fails, then takes his firstborn heir and offers him as a burnt offering on the wall. Great wrath comes against Israel, and they withdraw to their own land. The text records a horrifying royal act and an unexplained withdrawal. It does not baptize child sacrifice as strategy, piety, or a tool that worked. Moab's king remains a man who would rather burn his heir than lose his city.
How this should shape us
Do not call a campaign successful merely because an enemy panics, and do not treat another culture's child-killing as a mysterious key to victory. When a story ends in horror, name the horror and refuse to imitate it.
Teach it back
Explain 2 Kings 3:21–27 in your own words. Include its movement, one source-supported detail, one material uncertainty, one affected or obscured person, and one misuse the complete context rules out.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The identity and direction of the 'great indignation,' the intended deity, the sacrificed son's status, and the relation to Mesha's inscription remain disputed; the text does not resolve the ethical horror.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
2 Kings 3:21–27, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 3:21–27
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 629–631, translation and translator notes for 3:21–27
Supports: Unit-level literary, compositional, historical, and theological orientation used as one concise scholarly synthesis rather than consensus.
Dietrich, '1 and 2 Kings,' Oxford Bible Commentary (2001), printed pp. 249–253, exposition covering 2 Kings 3:21–27
Supports: An external Moabite royal voice about Omride control, revolt, territory, deity, and victory, used as interested primary evidence rather than a harmonizing key.
Louvre official Mesha Stele presentation, ninth-century BCE monument and Moabite royal inscription; compared with Dietrich, printed pp. 249–250
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Kings 3:21–27, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 3:21–27
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 629–631, translation and translator notes for 3:21–27
Open source ↗scholarly commentary chapter
1 and 2 Kings
Walter Dietrich
The Oxford Bible Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2001
Supports: Unit-level literary, compositional, historical, and theological orientation used as one concise scholarly synthesis rather than consensus.
Exact location: Dietrich, '1 and 2 Kings,' Oxford Bible Commentary (2001), printed pp. 249–253, exposition covering 2 Kings 3:21–27
Open source ↗ninth century bce primary inscription and museum record
Mesha Stele
King Mesha of Moab; modern museum record by the Louvre
Musee du Louvre, ninth century BCE; current museum presentation
Supports: An external Moabite royal voice about Omride control, revolt, territory, deity, and victory, used as interested primary evidence rather than a harmonizing key.
Exact location: Louvre official Mesha Stele presentation, ninth-century BCE monument and Moabite royal inscription; compared with Dietrich, printed pp. 249–250
Open source ↗