2 Kings 7

1Elisha said, "Hear Yahweh's word. Thus Yahweh says: Tomorrow about this time, a measure of fine flour for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, at Samaria's gate."

2The king's officer, on whose hand he leaned, answered the man of God: "Look, if Yahweh opens windows in the heavens, will this thing happen?" He replied, "Look, you will see it with your eyes, but you will not eat any of it."

3Four leprous men were at the gate's entrance, and one said to his companion, "Why are we sitting here until we die?"

4If we say, "We will go into the city," then famine grips the city, and we will die there. If we stay here, we will die too. Now come, let us surrender to the army of Aram. If they preserve our lives, we will live; and if they kill us, we will die.

5They rose up at twilight to go to the camp of Aram, and they came to the edge of the camp of Aram, and behold, there was no man there.

6The Lord made Aram's camp hear the sound of chariots, the sound of horses, the sound of a great army. They said one to another, "Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt, to come upon us."

7They arose and fled in the twilight, abandoning their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—the camp just as it stood—and ran for their lives.

8These lepers came to the edge of the camp, entered one tent, ate and drank, carried silver, gold, and clothing from there, went off and hid it; then they returned, entered another tent, carried more from there, and went and hid it.

9They said one to his fellow, "We are wrong to act this way. This day is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent while we wait until morning light, when iniquity will find us. Now come, let us go tell the king's house."

10They came and called to the city gatekeeper, told them, "We reached Aram's camp, and look, no one was there, no human voice, only the horses tethered, the donkeys tethered, and tents as they were."

11He called the gatekeepers, and they reported it to the king's house inside.

12The king rose at night and said to his servants, "Let me now tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are hungry, so they went out from the camp to hide in the field, saying, 'When they come out from the city, we will seize them alive and enter the city.'"

13One of his servants answered and said, "Please let them take five of the horses still left in the city—look, they are like the entire multitude of Israel left in it; look, they are like the entire multitude of Israel that has perished—let us send and see."

14They took two chariot horses, and the king sent after the Aramean camp, saying, "Go and see."

15They went after them to the Jordan, and saw the whole road full of garments and vessels that the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king.

16The people went out and plundered the Syrian camp, so a measure of fine flour sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of Yahweh.

17The king appointed the captain whose hand he leaned on over the gate, and the people trampled him there in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said—the one who spoke when the king came down to him.

18It happened as the man of God had told the king: "Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, tomorrow at this time in the gate of Samaria."

19The captain answered the man of God and said, "Look, if Yahweh makes windows in the heavens, could such a thing happen?" He said, "You will see it with your eyes, but you will not eat any of it."

20Thus it happened to him: the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.