2 Reis 3:24

Smote the Moabites. — Who were unprepared for resistance.

But they went forward smiting ... country. — The Hebrew text (Kethib) has, and he went (way-yâbô, spelt defectively, as in 1 Reis 12:12) into it (i.e., the land of Moab), and smote (literally, smiting an infinitive for a finite form) Moab. This is better than the Hebrew margin (Qeri), and they smote it (i.e. Moab), or the reading of some MSS. and the Targum and Syriac, “and they smote them, and smote Moab,” which is tautologous. The original reading is perhaps represented by that of the LXX., καὶ ἐπάταξαν εἰσπορευόμενοι καὶτύπτοντες τὴν Μωαβ, “and they entered the country, destroying as they went on.” (In Hebrew the participles would be infinitives.)