2 Kings 7

1Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh: About this time tomorrow, a seah of fine flour will be for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.”

2Then the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if Yahweh were making windows in the heavens, could this thing happen?” And he said, “Look, you are about to see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat from it.”

3There were four men with a skin disease at the entrance of the gate, and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die?”

4If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we will die there. And if we sit here, we will die. So now, come, let us fall into the camp of Aram. If they let us live, we will live; and if they put us to death, we will die.”

5So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of Aram. When they came to the edge of the camp of Aram, behold, there was no one there.

6For the Lord had caused the camp of Aram to hear the sound of chariots, the sound of horses, the sound of a great army, and they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt against us, to come against us.”

7So they arose and fled at twilight, and they left their tents, their horses, their donkeys—the camp as it was—and fled for their lives.

8When these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing from there, and went and hid them. Then they returned and entered another tent, and carried things off from there, and went and hid them.

9Then they said to one another, “What we are doing is not right. This day is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent. If we wait until the light of morning, guilt will overtake us. So now, come, let us go and report it to 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 Aram, and behold, there was no one there, no human sound—only the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.”

11Then the gatekeepers called out and reported it inside the king’s house.

12Then the king arose in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you, please, what Aram has done to us. They know that we are hungry, so they have gone out from the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out from the city, we will seize them alive and enter the city.’”

13Then one of his servants answered and said, “Please let them take five of the horses that remain, which are left in it. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it; behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who have perished. So let us send and see.”

14So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the camp of Aram, saying, “Go and see.”

15So they went after them as far as the Jordan, and behold, the whole road was full of garments and equipment that Aram had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and reported to the king.

16Then the people went out and plundered the camp of Aram, and a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of Yahweh.

17The king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate, but the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had spoken when the king came down to him.

18And it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley for a shekel, and one seah of fine flour for a shekel, will be about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria.”

19Then the officer answered the man of God and said, “If Yahweh were making windows in the heavens, could this thing happen?” And he said, “Look, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat from it.”

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