John Gill Commentary 2 Kings 2:19

"And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, we pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is bad, and the land miscarrieth." — 2 Kings 2:19 (ASV)

And the men of the city said to Elisha
The inhabitants of Jericho, perceiving him to be a prophet, and endowed with a power of working miracles:

behold, I pray you, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord
sees ;
in a plain, surrounded with gardens and orchards, with vineyards, oliveyards, and groves of palm trees, and other odoriferous ones:

but the water is bad, and the ground barren ;
that is, that part of it where this water was, or ran, for from thence it became barren; or "caused to miscarry", as the word signifies ^F17 ; not only trees cast their fruit, which it watered, but women became abortive that drank of it, as Josephus says ^F18 , and so cattle. Abarbinel thinks it was so from the times of Joshua, being cursed by him; but, if so, it would not have been inhabited again; rather this was owing to a new curse, upon its being rebuilt; though this might affect only a small part of the ground, not the whole, as before observed.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F17: (tlkvm) "orbans", Montanus, Vatablus; "facit abortum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
• F18: De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 3.