2 Kings 7:3-20
Modern English Version
The Arameans Flee
3 There were four leprous men at the entry of the gate, and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. But if we sit here, we die also. Now come, let us fall into the camp of the Arameans. If they spare our lives, we will live, and if they kill us, we will die.”
5 So they rose at twilight to enter the camp of the Arameans. When they came to the edge of the camp of the Arameans, there was no one there. 6 For the Lord had caused the Aramean camp to hear the sound of chariots, horses, even the sound of a large army, so that they said to one another, “Listen, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come against us.” 7 So they got up and ran away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys. The camp remained just as it was, and they ran for their lives.
8 When these leprous men came to the edge of the camp, they went into one tent. They ate and drank, carried off silver, gold, and clothes, and went and hid them. Then they went back, entered another tent, and carried off things from there and went and hid them.
9 Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right today. This is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, we will be found guilty. Let us go now and enter the city and tell the king’s household.”
10 So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and they told them, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and there was no one there. There was no sound of a man’s voice, only horses tied, donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.” 11 Then the gatekeepers called out and told the king’s household inside.
12 The king got up in the night and said to his servants, “I will show you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are starving, so they left the camp 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 One of his servants answered, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, since those remaining will suffer the fate of the whole multitude of Israel that have perished already; so let us send them and see.”
14 So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.” 15 So they went after them to the Jordan, and the whole way was full of clothes and vessels, which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told the king. 16 Then the people went out and looted the camp of the Arameans. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.
17 The king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge over the gate, and the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said when the king came down to him. 18 Then the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.”
19 The officer had answered the man of God, “If the Lord should make windows in heaven, could such a thing happen?” And he had said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” 20 So it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.
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2 Kings 7:3-20
21st Century King James Version
3 And there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. And they said one to another, “Why sit we here until we die?
4 If we say, ‘We will enter into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.”
5 And they rose up in the twilight to go unto the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.
6 For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host; and they said one to another, “Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us.”
7 Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents and their horses and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.
8 And when these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from thence silver and gold and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent and carried from thence also, and went and hid it.
9 Then they said one to another, “We do not what is right. This day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace. If we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us. Now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.”
10 So they came and called unto the gatekeepers of the city; and they told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied and asses tied and the tents as they were.”
11 And he called the gatekeepers, and they told it to the king’s house within.
12 And the king arose in the night and said unto his servants, “I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive and get into the city.’”
13 And one of his servants answered and said, “Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city — behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites who are consumed — and let us send and see.”
14 They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, “Go and see.”
15 And they went after them unto the Jordan; and lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.
16 And the people went out and despoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.
17 And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate. And the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.
18 And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria.”
19 And that lord answered the man of God and said, “Now, behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be?” And he said, “Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.”
20 And so it befell him, for the people trod upon him in the gate and he died.
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