2 Chronicles 32:3
 2 Chronicles 32:3 
New International Version (©2011)
he consulted with his officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the springs outside the city, and they helped him.

New Living Translation (©2007)
he consulted with his officials and military advisers, and they decided to stop the flow of the springs outside the city.

English Standard Version (©2001)
he planned with his officers and his mighty men to stop the water of the springs that were outside the city; and they helped him.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
he decided with his officers and his warriors to cut off the supply of water from the springs which were outside the city, and they helped him.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
so he consulted with his officials and his warriors about stopping up the waters of the springs that were outside the city, and they helped him.

International Standard Version (©2012)
he developed a plan with his commanders and his elite forces to cut off the water supply from the springs that were outside the city, and they helped him to carry it out.

NET Bible (©2006)
he consulted with his advisers and military officers about stopping up the springs outside the city, and they supported him.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
he, his officers, and his military staff made plans to stop the water from flowing out of the springs outside the city. They helped him do it.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were outside the city: and they did help him.

American King James Version
He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.

American Standard Version
he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city; and they helped him.

Douay-Rheims Bible
He took counsel with the princes, and the most valiant men, to stop up the heads of the springs, that were without the city: and as they were all of this mind,

Darby Bible Translation
he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the fountains of waters that were outside the city; and they helped him.

English Revised Version
he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city; and they helped him.

Webster's Bible Translation
He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they helped him.

World English Bible
he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the springs which were outside of the city; and they helped him.

Young's Literal Translation
and he taketh counsel with his heads and his mighty ones, to stop the waters of the fountains that are at the outside of the city -- and they help him,

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:1-23 Those who trust God with their safety, must use proper means, else they tempt him. God will provide, but so must we also. Hezekiah gathered his people together, and spake comfortably to them. A believing confidence in God, will raise us above the prevailing fear of man. Let the good subjects and soldiers of Jesus Christ, rest upon his word, and boldly say, Since God is for us, who can be against us? By the favour of God, enemies are lost, and friends gained.


Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - To stop the waters of the fountains... without the city. These fountains or springs were probably those represented by En Rogel, on the Ophel spur or very large mound, or fortified hill (mistranslated possibly from that circumstance "tower," in 2 Kings 5:24; Isaiah 32:14), on the southeast of the temple. The object of Hezekiah is obvious enough. The word (סָתַּם) for "stopping" occurs in all thirteen times - twice in piel in Genesis, once in niph. in Nehemiah, and ten times in kal in Kings, Chronicles, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Psalms. It is for all material purposes very uniformly rendered in all these places by the word "stop" eight times, and otherwise "shut" or "closed," or to carry a derived meaning, "hidden" or "secret." If the word "shut" or "shut off" were employed, it would fit every occasion. So we are not told here how he stopped the fountain or fountains, but that he shut the waters off from one direction and guided them into another, vie. by a conduit running westward from the springs and the Gihon (i.e. the brook) flowing naturally down the Tyropoean valley to a pool prepared for it in the city (see our ver. 30; and 2 Kings 18:17; 2 Kings 20:20; Ecclus, 48:17; and Conder's 'Handbook to the Bible,' p. 339). This pool was very probably none other than the pool of Siloam.


Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He took counsel with his princes, and his mighty men,.... With his nobles, and the officers of his army, what steps should be taken to resist, retard, and distress the enemy, and among the rest what follows was proposed:

to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city; that so the Assyrian army would find it difficult to supply themselves with water, which was an article of great importance:

and they did help him; to stop the fountains, not only with their advice how to do it, but with their men, their servants, who assisted those that Hezekiah employed in this work.


2 Chronicles 32:3 Parallel Commentaries

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Sennacherib Invades Judah
1After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself. 2And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, 3He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.

2 Chronicles 32:2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to wage war against Jerusalem,
2 Chronicles 32:4 They gathered a large group of people who blocked all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. "Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?" they said.
Isaiah 22:11 You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.
Nahum 3:14 Draw water for the siege, strengthen your defenses! Work the clay, tread the mortar, repair the brickwork!