2 Kings 7

¹ Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: 'About this time tomorrow, a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.'"

² The officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, "Even if the LORD made windows in the sky, could this thing happen?" He said, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it."

³ Now four men with skin disease were at the entrance of the gate. They said to one another, "Why are we sitting here until we die?

⁴ If 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 come, let us go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we will live; and if they kill us, we will die."

⁵ They rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans. When they came to the edge of the Aramean camp, no one was there.

⁶ For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots, the sound of horses—the sound of a great army. They said to one another, "The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us!"

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

⁸ When these men with skin disease came to the edge of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank. They carried off silver, gold, and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried things off from there and went and hid them.

⁹ Then they said to one another, "We are not doing right. This is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent. If we wait until the light of morning, guilt will find us. Now come, let us go and tell the king's household."

¹⁰ So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, "We went to the Aramean camp, and no one was there—not a human voice—only horses tied up and donkeys tied up, and the tents just as they were."

¹¹ The gatekeepers called out, and it was reported inside the king's palace.

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

¹³ One of his servants answered, "Let some men take five of the remaining horses that are left in the city—they are like the whole multitude of Israel that remain here; they are like the whole multitude of Israel that have perished—and let us send and see."

¹⁴ So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, "Go and see."

¹⁵ They followed them as far as the Jordan, and the whole road was littered with garments and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. The messengers returned and reported to the king.

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

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

¹⁸ It happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king: "Two seahs of barley for a shekel and a seah of fine flour for a shekel will be sold about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria."

¹⁹ The officer had answered the man of God, "Even if the LORD made windows in the sky, could this thing happen?" And he had said, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it."

²⁰ And that is what happened to him: the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.