2 Kings 7

Elisha Promises Food

1Then Elisha said, “Listen to the word of the Lord; thus says the Lord, ‘1Tomorrow about this time a 2measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’” 23The royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning answered the man of God and said, “Behold, 4if the Lord should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” Then he said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat 5of it.”

Four Lepers Relate Arameans’ Flight

3Now there were four 6leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why do we sit here until we die? 4If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city and we will die there; and if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us 7go over to 8the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, we will but die.” 5They arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans; when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no one there. 6For 9the Lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us 10the kings of the Hittites and 11the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.” 7Therefore they 12arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents and their horses and their donkeys, even the camp just as it was, and fled for their life. 8When these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and 13carried from there silver and gold and clothes, and went and hid them; and they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also, and went and hid them.

9Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent; if we wait until morning light, punishment will 14overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” 10So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and they told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no one there, nor the voice of man, only the horses tied and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were.” 11The gatekeepers called and told it within the king’s household. 12Then the king arose in the night and said to his servants, “I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that 15we are hungry; therefore they have gone from the camp 16to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.’” 13One of his servants said, “Please, let some men take five of the horses which remain, which are left 17in the city. Behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it; behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who have already perished, so let us send and see.” 14They took therefore two chariots with horses, and the king sent after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.”

The Promise Fulfilled

15They went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told the king.

16So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a 18measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two 19measures of barley for a shekel, 20according to the word of the Lord. 17Now the king appointed 21the royal officer on whose hand he leaned 22to have charge of the gate; but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died just as the man of God had said, 23who spoke when the king came down to him. 18It happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “24Two 25measures of barley for a shekel and a 26measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be sold tomorrow about this time at the gate of Samaria.” 19Then the royal officer answered the man of God and said, “Now behold, 27if the Lord should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat 28of it.” 20And so it happened to him, for the people trampled on him at the gate and he died.