2 Kings 3:14-16

3:14 Elisha said, “As certainly as the Lord who rules over all ¹  lives (whom I serve), ²  if I did not respect King Jehoshaphat of Judah, ³  I would not pay attention to you or acknowledge you. ⁴  3:15 But now, get me a musician.” ⁵  When the musician played, the Lord energized him, ⁶  3:16 and he said, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Make many cisterns in this valley,’ ⁷ 

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¹ tn Traditionally “the Lord of hosts.”

² tn Heb “before whom I stand.”

³ tn Heb “if I did not lift up the face of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah.”

⁴ tn Heb “I would not look at you or see you.”

⁵ tn The term used refers to one who plays a stringed instrument, perhaps a harp.

⁶ tn Heb “the hand of the Lord came on him.” This may refer to what typically happened, “[for] when a musician played, the hand of the Lord would come upon him.”

⁷ tn Heb “making this valley cisterns, cisterns.” The Hebrew noun גֵּב (gev) means “cistern” in Jer 14:3 (cf. Jer 39:10). The repetition of the noun is for emphasis. See GKC 396 §123.e. The verb (“making”) is an infinitive absolute, which has to be interpreted in light of the context. The translation above takes it in an imperatival sense. The command need not be understood as literal, but as hyperbolic. Telling them to build cisterns is a dramatic way of leading into the announcement that he would miraculously provide water in the desert. Some prefer to translate the infinitive as an imperfect with the Lord as the understood subject, “I will turn this valley [into] many pools.”