2 Kings 7

¹ Then Elisha said, “Hear Yahweh’s word. Yahweh says, ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’”

² Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, “Behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, might this thing be?” He said, “Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat of it.”

³ Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said one to another, “Why do we sit here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘We will enter into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall to the army of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.”

⁵ They rose up in the twilight, to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no man there. ⁶ For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great army; and they said one to another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come on us.” ⁷ Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.

⁸ When these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank, and carried from there silver, and gold, and clothing, and went and hid it; and they came back, and entered into another tent, and carried from there also, and went and hid it. ⁹ Then they said one to another, “We aren’t doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we hold our peace. If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king’s household.”

¹⁰ So they came and called to the porter of the city, and they told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.” ¹¹ He called the porters; and they told it to the king’s household within.

¹² The king arose in the night, and said to his servants, “I will now tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore they are gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and get into the city.’” ¹³ One of his servants answered, “Please let some take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel who are left in it; behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel who are consumed), and let us send and see.”

¹⁴ They took therefore two chariots with horses; and the king sent after the army of the Syrians, saying, “Go and see.” ¹⁵ They went after them to the Jordan: and behold, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. The messengers returned, and told the king.

¹⁶ The people went out, and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to Yahweh’s word.

¹⁷ The king appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. The people trampled on him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. ¹⁸ It happened, as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow about this time, at the gate of Samaria;” ¹⁹ and that captain answered the man of God, and said, “Now behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, might such a thing be?” and he said, “Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat of it.” ²⁰ So it happened to him; for the people trampled on him in the gate, and he died.