Chapter 7
1 Elisha said, “Listen to the word of the Lord for thus says the Lord: By this time tomorrow a seah[a] of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel in the gates of Samaria.” 2 An officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Behold, even if the Lord were to make windows in the heavens, how could this happen.” He answered, “Behold, your eyes will see it, but you will not eat any of it.”
Lepers at the Gate. 3 There were four lepers at the entrance to the city gate, and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die?[b] 4 If we say, ‘Let us go into the city,’ there is famine in the city. We would die there. If we continue to sit here, we will die just the same. Let us go and surrender to the army of the Arameans. If they let us live, then we will live, but if they kill us, then we will die.”
5 At dusk they got up and went into the camp of the Arameans. When they arrived at the edge of the Aramean camp, they did not find anyone. 6 The Lord had made the Aramean army hear the sound of chariots and the sound of horses and the sound of a large army. They said to one another, “The king of Israel has paid the Hittite kings and the Egyptian kings to attack us.” 7 They arose at dusk and fled, abandoning their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving their camp as it was. They fled for their lives.
8 These lepers reached the edge of the camp, and they entered one of the tents where they ate and drank and carried away silver, gold, and clothing. They went off and hid it, and they then entered another tent and carried off things from it as well. They went and hid those things.
9 They then said to one another, “What we are doing today is not right. It is a day of good news, and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until the morning, will we not be punished? Come on, let us go and inform the king’s household.”
10 So they went and called out to the city gatekeeper, saying, “We have come from the Aramean camp, and there was no one there, not a sound from anyone. Yet, the horses are tied up, and the donkeys are tied up, and the tents are the way they were.”
11 The gatekeepers shouted out the news, and it was heard in the king’s palace. 12 The king got up during the night and he said to his servants, “I will explain to you what the Arameans have done to us. They knew that we were hungry, so they left the camp and hid in the field, saying, ‘When they come out from the city, we will catch them alive and take the city.’ ”
13 One of his servants said, “Let some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their fate will be the same as the rest of the Israelites who are left here, for the rest of the Israelites are doomed as well. Let us send them to see.”
14 End of the Siege. The king chose two chariots with their horses, and he sent them after the Aramean army saying, “Go and see!” 15 They followed them to the Jordan, and all along the way they found garments and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. The messengers returned and reported it to the king.
16 The people went out and they plundered the tents of the Arameans. A seah of flour sold for one shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for one shekel, as the Lord had said.
17 Now the king had placed the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, as the man of God had foretold when the king had visited him.
18 And so what the man of God had said to the king came true, for he said, “Two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of flour will sell for a shekel at this time tomorrow in the gates of Samaria.” 19 The officer had said to the man of God, “Behold, even if the Lord were to make windows in the heavens, how could this happen,” and he had answered, “Behold, your eyes will see it, but you will not eat any of it.” 20 This is exactly what happened, for the people trampled him in the gateway and he died.
Footnotes
- 2 Kings 7:1 Seah: about 15 liters; the low price reflects the end of the famine.
- 2 Kings 7:3 Lepers had to remain apart (Lev 13:46); they are at the gate because the countryside is overrun by the enemy. It will be by means of these outcasts that God rescues the city.