2 Kings

¹Elisha replied, 'Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: By this time tomorrow, a large sack of the finest flour will sell for one shekel, and two large sacks of barley will sell for one shekel — here at the gate of Samaria.'

²The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, 'Even if the LORD opened windows in the sky, could this happen?' Elisha replied, 'You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it.'

³Now there were four men with a skin disease sitting at the entrance to the city gate. They said to each other, 'Why should we sit here waiting to die?'

⁴If we go into the city, we will die from the famine there. If we stay here, we'll die too. So let's go to the Aramean camp. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, we die.'

⁵At dusk they got up and went to the Aramean camp. When they arrived at the edge of the camp, no one was there.

⁶The LORD had caused the Arameans to hear what sounded like the thunder of chariots and horses and a great army, so they had said to one another, 'The king of Israel must have hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!'

⁷So they fled at dusk, abandoning their tents, horses, and donkeys, leaving the camp exactly as it was, and ran for their lives.

⁸When the men with the skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they went into one tent, ate and drank, and carried out silver, gold, and clothing and hid it. Then they returned and entered another tent and carried out more things and hid them.

⁹Then they said to each other, 'We are not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are not sharing it. If we wait until morning, we will be punished. Let's go and report this to the royal palace.'

¹⁰They went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, 'We went to the Aramean camp and no one was there — not a sound of anyone. The horses and donkeys were still tied up, and the tents were left just as they were.'

¹¹The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported in the palace.

¹²The king got up in the night and said to his officers, 'I will tell you what the Arameans are doing to us. They know we are hungry, so they have left their camp to hide in the open country. They think we will come out and then they can take us alive and get into the city.'

¹³One of the officers replied, 'Have some men take five of the remaining horses. If they survive, they are no worse off than the rest of the Israelites who are about to die. Let's send them out and see what happens.'

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

¹⁵They followed the Arameans all the way to the Jordan. The whole road was littered with clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their panic. The messengers returned and reported to the king.

¹⁶The people went out and looted the Aramean camp. So a large sack of the finest flour sold for one shekel, and two large sacks of barley sold for one shekel, just as the LORD had said.

¹⁷The king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him as they rushed out, and he died — just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house.

¹⁸It happened exactly as the man of God had told the king: Two large sacks of barley for one shekel, and a large sack of the finest flour for one shekel — by that time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.

¹⁹The officer had replied to the man of God, 'Even if the LORD opened windows in the sky, could this happen?' And Elisha had said, 'You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it.'

²⁰That is exactly what happened to him — the people trampled him at the gate, and he died.