The End of the Siege

7 Then Elisha said, “All of you, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says. At this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, twelve pounds^[a] of fine flour will sell for a shekel and twenty-four pounds of barley for a shekel.”

² Then the officer at the king’s right hand, on whose arm the king was leaning, answered the man of God, “Really? Even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven, could this happen?”

Elisha said, “Listen to me. You yourself will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it.”

³ Now four lepers were at the entrance to the gate. They said to each other, “Why should we sit here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘Let’s go into the city,’ there is famine in the city and we will die there. But if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we will live. If they kill us, we will die.”

⁵ So they got up at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp of the Arameans, they saw that there was no one there! ⁶ For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of horses and chariots and the sound of a great army. They said to each other, “Listen! The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us!” ⁷ Then they arose and fled at twilight. They left their tents, their horses, and their donkeys in the camp just as they were, and they fled for their lives.

⁸ So when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent, and they ate and drank. They picked up silver, gold, and clothing and went and hid it. Then they returned and went to another tent. They took some of what was there and went and hid it.

⁹ Then they said to each other, “We should not be doing this. Today is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent. If we wait until daylight, our sin will find us. So come on, let’s go and tell about this at the king’s palace.”

¹⁰ So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, “We went into the camp of the Arameans, and we looked, but there was no one there! Not even the sound of a man! But the horses and the donkeys are tied there, and the tents are just as they were!”

¹¹ Then the gatekeepers proclaimed the news, and it was reported in the king’s palace. ¹² So the king got up at night and said to his officials, “I’ll tell you what the Arameans are doing to us: They know that we are hungry so they left the camp to hide in the fields, saying, ‘They will certainly come out of the city, and we will capture them alive. Then we’ll get into the city!’”

¹³ But one of his officials answered, “Please let some men take five of the horses that are left in the city—look, they won’t be any worse off than all the rest of the Israelites who are left here—all the other Israelites who are about to die. Let’s send them out, and let’s see.”

¹⁴ So they took two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the army of Aram, saying, “Go and take a look.” ¹⁵ So they followed them to the Jordan. The whole road was full of clothing and equipment that the Arameans threw away while they fled in panic. Then the messengers returned and reported to the king.

¹⁶ Then the people went out and looted the Aramean camp. So twelve pounds of fine flour sold for a shekel and twenty-four pounds of barley for a shekel, just as the Lord had said. ¹⁷ The king appointed the officer on whose arm he leaned to be in charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said when the king went down to speak to him.

¹⁸ It happened just as the man of God had said to the king: “Twenty-four pounds of barley will be sold for a shekel and twelve pounds of fine flour for a shekel by this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria.”

¹⁹ The officer had said to the man of God, “Really? Even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven, could something like this happen?”

The man of God had said, “Listen to me. You yourself will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it.”

²⁰ So all this happened to him just like that: The people trampled him in the gate and he died.