Elisha Promises Food

1Elisha said, “Y’all must listen the word of YHWH. YHWH says, ‘About this time tomorrow a seah+7:1 1 seah is about 7 liters or 1.9 gallons or 0.8 pecks of fine flour will be sold for a shekel,+7:1 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces. In this context, it was probably a silver coin weighing that much. and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.’”

2Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, “If YHWH made windows in heaven, could this thing be?”

Elisha said, “You will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.”

The Syrians Retreat

3Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. They said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we will die there. And if we sit still here, we also die. So y’all come and let’s surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they let us live, we’ll live, and if they kill us, we will die.”

5They rose up in the twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. When they had come to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, they found that no man was there. 6For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians to hear the sound of chariots and the sound of horses, even the noise of a great army; and they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.” 7Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. 8When these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank, then carried away silver, gold, and clothing and went and hid it. Then they came back, and entered into another tent and carried things from there also, and went and hid them. 9Then they said to one another, “We aren’t doing what is right. Today is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent. If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. So y’all come and let’s go and tell the king’s household.”

10So they came and called to the city gatekeepers and told them, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and saw there was no man there, not even a man’s voice, but the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.”

11Then the gatekeepers called out and told it to the king’s household within.

12The king got up in the night and said to his servants, “I will now show y’all what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. So they have left the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will take them alive and get into the city.’”

13One of his servants answered, “Please let some people take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city. They are like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it. Yes, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are consumed. Let’s send and see.”

14Therefore they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them out to the Syrian army, saying, “Y’all are to go and see.”

15They followed them to the Jordan. They saw that the whole way was full of garments and equipment which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king. 16The people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah+7:16 1 seah is about 7 liters or 1.9 gallons or 0.8 pecks of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel,+7:16 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces. In this context, it was probably a silver coin weighing that much. according to the word of YHWH. 17The king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate; and the people trampled over him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. 18It happened as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs+7:18 1 seah is about 7 liters or 1.9 gallons or 0.8 pecks of barley for a shekel,+7:18 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces. In this context, it was probably a silver coin weighing that much. and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, will be at the gate of Samaria tomorrow about this time;” 19and that captain answered the man of God, and said, “Look, even if YHWH made windows in heaven, could this really happen?” and he said, “Indeed, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.” 20It happened like that to him, for the people trampled over him in the gate, and he died.