1Then Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the LORD,?Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. ' " 2And the third officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, "Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, then this thing might be." And he said, "Behold, you shall see with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it. "

3And four men, lepers, were at the gate entrance. And they said to one another, "Why do we sit here until we die? 4If we say, 'We will enter into the city,' then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we still sit here, we also shall die. Now therefore come and let us fall to the army of the Syrians. If they save us alive, then we shall live. And if they kill us, we shall only die." 5So they rose up in the twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. And when they had come to the outermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, no man was there! 6For the LORD had made the army of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses, the noise of a great army. And they said to one another, "Lo, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians against us to come upon us." 7Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight and left their tents and their horses and their donkeys and the camp, as it was, and fled for their lives. 8And when these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried silver and gold and clothing from there, and went and hid it. And they came again and entered into another tent and carried from there, and went and hid it.

9And they said to one another, "We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we hold our peace. If we stay until the morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore come, so that we may go and tell the king's household." 10And they came and called to the porter of the city. And they told them, saying, "We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, no man was there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and donkeys tied, and the tents as they were." 11And he called the porters. And they told it to the king's house inside. 12And the king arose in the night and said to his servants, "I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry, and they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, 'When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive and get into the city. ' " 13And one of his servants answered and said, "Please let some take five of the horses which remain, which are left in the city; behold, they are already like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; behold, they are even now as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed. So we will send and see." 14And they took two chariots with horses. And the king sent after the army of the Syrians, saying, "Go and see."

15And they went after them to Jordan. And, lo, all the way was full of clothing and vessels which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.

16Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. Now it came to pass, a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. 17And the king appointed the third officer over the gate, the one on whose hand he had leaned. And the people trampled upon him at the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. 18So it came to pass according to the saying of the man of God to the king, saying, "Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel: This shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria." 19And the third officer had answered the man of God and said, "Behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, then such a thing might be." And he said, "Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it." 20And it happened to him because the people trampled upon him at the gate, and he died.