2 Kings 7

¹And Elisha said, Hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD, About this time tomorrow, a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.

²And the officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, 'Even if the LORD were making windows in heaven, could this thing be?' And he said, 'You shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat from there.'

³And four men were afflicted 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 come now, let us go over to the camp of Aram. If they let us live, we will live; and if they kill us, we will die.

⁵And they arose 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.

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

⁷And they arose and fled in the twilight, and they left their tents and their horses and their donkeys -- the camp just as it was -- and they fled for their lives.

⁸And these lepers came to the edge of the camp, and they entered a tent and ate and drank, and they carried from there silver and gold and garments, and they went and hid them. And they returned and came into another tent, and they carried from there and hid them.

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

¹⁰And they came and called to the gatekeeper of the city and told them, saying, 'We went to the camp of Aram, and behold, there was no man there and no sound of a man, only the horses tied up and the donkeys tied up, and the tents as they were.'

¹¹And the gatekeepers called out and they reported it inside the house of the king.

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

¹³And one of his servants answered and said, 'Let them take, please, five of the remaining horses that remain in it, behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel that remain in it; behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel that have come to an end, and let us send and see.'

¹⁴And they took two chariot teams of horses, and the king sent them after the camp of Aram, saying, Go and see.

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

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

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

¹⁸And it happened as the man of God spoke to the king, saying, 'Two seahs of barley for a shekel and a seah of fine flour for a shekel shall be at this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria,'

¹⁹And the officer answered the man of God and said, 'Behold, if the LORD were making windows in the heavens, could this thing be?' And he said, 'Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but from there you will not eat.'

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