2 Kings 7:1-9 ▼

1 And Elisha says, “Hear a word of YHWH! Thus said YHWH: About this time tomorrow, a measure of fine flour [is] at a shekel, and two measures of barley at a shekel, in the Gate of Samaria.”

2 And the captain whom the king has, by whose hand he has been supported, answers the man of God and says, “Behold, YHWH is making windows in the heavens—will this thing be?” And he says, “Behold, you are seeing it with your eyes, and you do not eat thereof.”

3 And four men have been leprous at the opening of the gate, and they say to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we have died?

4 If we have said, We go into the city, then the famine [is] in the city and we have died there; and if we have sat here, then we have died; and now, come and we go down to the camp of Aram; if they keep us alive, we live, and if they put us to death—we have died.”

5 And they rise in the twilight, to go to the camp of Aram, and they come to the extremity of the camp of Aram, and behold, there is not a man there,

6 seeing YHWH has caused the camp of Aram to hear a noise of chariot and a noise of horse—a noise of great force, and they say 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.”

7 And they rise and flee in the twilight, and forsake their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys—the camp as it [is]—and flee for their life.

8 And these lepers come to the extremity of the camp, and come into one tent, and eat, and drink, and lift up silver, and gold, and garments from there, and go and hide; and they turn back and go into another tent, and lift up from there, and go and hide.

9 And they say to one another, “We are not doing right this day; it [is] a day of tidings, and we are keeping silent; and we have waited until the morning light, then punishment has found us; and now, come and we go in and declare [it] to the house of the king.”