2 Kings 6:24-7:19

Legacy Standard Bible

Aram’s Siege of Samaria

²⁴ Now it happened afterwards, that ^(A)Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered all his military camp and went up and besieged Samaria. ²⁵ Now there was a great ^(B)famine in Samaria. And behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for ^[a]eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a ^[b]kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. ²⁶ As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Save, my lord, O king!” ²⁷ He said, “^[c]If Yahweh does not save you, from where shall I save you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” ²⁸ And the king said to her, “^(C)What ^[d]is the matter with you?” And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ ^29 (D)So we boiled my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.” ³⁰ Now it happened that when the king heard the words of the woman, ^(E)he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth ^[e]beneath on his ^[f]body. ³¹ Then he said, “May ^(F)God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat ^[g]remains on him today.”

Flour and Barley in Samaria

³² Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and ^(G)the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man from his presence; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you ^(H)see how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and ^[h]hold the door shut against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” ³³ While he was still speaking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him and he said, “^(I)Behold, this evil is from Yahweh; why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?”

7 Then Elisha said, “Listen to the word of Yahweh; thus says Yahweh, ‘^(J)About this time tomorrow a ^[i]seah of fine flour will be sold for a ^[j]shekel, and two ^[k]seahs of barley for a ^[l]shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’” ^2 (K)And the royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning answered the man of God and said, “Behold, ^(L)if Yahweh should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” Then he said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat ^[m]of it.”

Lepers Report the Arameans’ Flight

³ Now there were four ^(M)leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why do we sit here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city and we will die there; and if we sit here, we die also. So now come, and let us ^[n]go over to ^(N)the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we will live; and if they put us to death, we will die.” ⁵ So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans. Then they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, but behold, there was no one there. ⁶ Now ^(O)the Lord had caused the camp of the Arameans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great military force, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us ^(P)the kings of the Hittites and ^(Q)the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.” ⁷ Therefore they ^(R)arose and fled in the twilight, and forsook their tents and their horses and their donkeys, even the camp just as it was, and fled for their life. ⁸ So these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp and entered one tent and ate and drank. Then they ^(S)carried from there silver and gold and clothes, and they went and hid them; and they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also and went and hid them.

⁹ Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent; if we wait until morning light, punishment will ^[o]overtake us. So now, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” ¹⁰ So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and they told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no one there, nor the voice of man, only the horses tied and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were.” ¹¹ And the gatekeepers called and told it within the king’s household. ¹² Then the king arose in the night and said to his servants, “I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that ^(T)we are hungry; therefore they have gone from the camp ^(U)to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.’” ¹³ And one of his servants answered and said, “Please, let some men take five of the remaining horses, which remain ^[p]in the city. Behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who remain in it; behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who have already come to an end, so let us send and see.” ¹⁴ They took therefore two chariots with horses, and the king sent after the camp of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.”

Plundering the Arameans

¹⁵ Then they went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told the king.

¹⁶ So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a ^[q]seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two ^[r]seahs of barley for a shekel, ^(V)according to the word of Yahweh. ¹⁷ Now the king appointed ^(W)the royal officer on whose hand he leaned ^[s]to have charge of the gate; but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died just as the man of God had spoken, ^(X)who spoke when the king came down to him. ¹⁸ So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “^(Y)Two ^[t]seahs of barley for a shekel and a ^[u]seah of fine flour for a shekel will be sold tomorrow about this time at the gate of Samaria.” ¹⁹ And the royal officer had answered the man of God and said, “Now behold, ^(Z)if Yahweh should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he had said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat ^[v]of it.”