²⁶ The king of Moab realized that he was not winning the battle. So he took 700 of his soldiers who had swords. They tried to attack their enemies and reach the king of Edom. But they failed to do that. ²⁷ So the king of Moab took his oldest son who would have become king after him. He killed him on the wall of the city as a burnt offering to their god.^[a] This made the Israelite soldiers become very upset. So they went away from the city and they returned to their own land.