2 Kings 3:19

3:19 You will defeat every fortified city and every important ¹  city. You must chop down ²  every productive ³  tree, stop up all the springs, and cover all the cultivated land with stones.” ⁴ 

2 Kings 19:25

19:25 ⁵ Certainly you must have heard! ⁶ 

Long ago I worked it out,

In ancient times I planned ⁷  it;

and now I am bringing it to pass.

The plan is this:

Fortified cities will crash

into heaps of ruins. ⁸ 

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¹ tn Heb “choice” or “select.”

² tn Elisha places the object first and uses an imperfect verb form. The stylistic shift may signal that he is now instructing them what to do, rather than merely predicting what would happen.

³ tn Heb “good.”

⁴ tn Heb “and ruin every good portion with stones.”

⁵ tn Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24, the Lord now speaks to the king.

⁶ tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.

⁷ tn Heb “formed.”

⁸ tn Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְּהִי (tÿhi) is the implied plan, referred to in the preceding lines with third feminine singular pronominal suffixes.