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2 Kings 7:3-20
New English Translation

3 Now four men with a skin disease[a] were sitting at the entrance of the city gate. They said to one another, “Why are we just sitting here waiting to die?[b] 4 If we go into the city, we’ll die of starvation,[c] and if we stay here we’ll die! So come on, let’s defect[d] to the Syrian camp! If they spare us,[e] we’ll live; if they kill us—well, we were going to die anyway.”[f] 5 So they started toward[g] the Syrian camp at dusk. When they reached the edge of the Syrian camp, there was no one there. 6 The Lord had caused the Syrian camp to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a large army. Then they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has paid the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us!” 7 So they got up and fled at dusk, leaving behind their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. 8 When the men with a skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they entered a tent and had a meal.[h] They also took some silver, gold, and clothes and went and hid it all.[i] Then they went back and entered another tent. They looted it[j] and went and hid what they had taken. 9 Then they said to one another, “It’s not right what we’re doing! This is a day to celebrate, but we haven’t told anyone.[k] If we wait until dawn,[l] we’ll be punished.[m] So come on, let’s go and inform the royal palace.” 10 So they went and called out to the gatekeepers[n] of the city. They told them, “We entered the Syrian camp and there was no one there. We didn’t even hear a man’s voice.[o] But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up.”[p] 11 The gatekeepers relayed the news to the royal palace.[q]

12 The king got up in the night and said to his advisers,[r] “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are starving, so they left the camp and hid in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and enter the city.’” 13 One of his advisers replied, “Pick some men and have them take five of the horses that are left in the city. (Even if they are killed, their fate will be no different than that of all the Israelite people—we’re all going to die!)[s] Let’s send them out so we can know for sure what’s going on.”[t] 14 So they picked two horsemen and the king sent them out to track the Syrian army.[u] He ordered them, “Go and find out what’s going on.”[v] 15 So they tracked them[w] as far as the Jordan. The road was filled with clothes and equipment that the Syrians had discarded in their haste.[x] The scouts[y] went back and told the king. 16 Then the people went out and looted the Syrian camp. A seah[z] of finely milled flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, just as in the Lord’s message.

17 Now the king had placed the officer who was his right-hand man[aa] at the city gate. When the people rushed out, they trampled him to death in the gate.[ab] This fulfilled the prophet’s word which he had spoken when the king tried to arrest him.[ac] 18 The prophet had told the king, “Two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of finely milled flour for a shekel; this will happen about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria.” 19 But the officer had replied to the prophet, “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?”[ad] Elisha[ae] had said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”[af] 20 This is exactly what happened to him. The people trampled him to death in the city gate.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 7:3 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 5:1.
  2. 2 Kings 7:3 tn Heb “until we die.”
  3. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city and we will die there.”
  4. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “fall.”
  5. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “keep us alive.”
  6. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “we will die.” The paraphrastic translation attempts to bring out the logical force of their reasoning.
  7. 2 Kings 7:5 tn Heb “they arose to go to.”
  8. 2 Kings 7:8 tn Heb “they ate and drank.”
  9. 2 Kings 7:8 tn Heb “and they hid [it].”
  10. 2 Kings 7:8 tn Heb “and they took from there.”
  11. 2 Kings 7:9 tn Heb “this day is a day of good news and we are keeping silent.”
  12. 2 Kings 7:9 tn Heb “the light of the morning.”
  13. 2 Kings 7:9 tn Heb “punishment will find us.”
  14. 2 Kings 7:10 tn The MT has a singular form (“gatekeeper”), but the context suggests a plural. The pronoun that follows (“them”) is plural and a plural noun appears in v. 11. The Syriac Peshitta and the Targum have the plural here.
  15. 2 Kings 7:10 tn Heb “and, look, there was no man or voice of a man there.”
  16. 2 Kings 7:10 tn Heb “but the horses are tied up and the donkeys are tied up and the tents are as they were.”
  17. 2 Kings 7:11 tn Heb “and the gatekeepers called out and they told [it] within the house of the king.”
  18. 2 Kings 7:12 tn Heb “servants” (also in v. 13).
  19. 2 Kings 7:13 tn Heb “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.” The MT is dittographic here; the words “that remain in it. Look they are like all the people of Israel” have been accidentally repeated. The original text read, “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.”
  20. 2 Kings 7:13 tn Heb “and let us send so we might see.”
  21. 2 Kings 7:14 tn Heb “and the king sent [them] after the Syrian camp.”
  22. 2 Kings 7:14 tn Heb “Go and see.”
  23. 2 Kings 7:15 tn Heb “went after.”
  24. 2 Kings 7:15 tn Heb “and look, all the road was full of clothes and equipment that Syria had thrown away in their haste.”
  25. 2 Kings 7:15 tn Or “messengers.”
  26. 2 Kings 7:16 sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 11 quarts (11 liters).
  27. 2 Kings 7:17 tn Heb “the officer on whose hand he leans.”
  28. 2 Kings 7:17 tn Heb “and the people trampled him in the gate and he died.”
  29. 2 Kings 7:17 tn Heb “just as the man of God had spoken, [the word] which he spoke when the king came down to him.”
  30. 2 Kings 7:19 tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” See the note at 7:2.
  31. 2 Kings 7:19 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  32. 2 Kings 7:19 tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”tn In the Hebrew text vv. 18-19a are one lengthy sentence, “When the man of God spoke to the king…, the officer replied to the man of God, ‘Look…so soon?’” The translation divides this sentence up for stylistic reasons.
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2 Kings 7:3-20
Christian Standard Bible

3 Now four men with a skin disease(A) were at the entrance to the city gate. They said to each other, “Why just sit here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘Let’s go into the city,’ we will die there because the famine is in the city, but if we sit here, we will also die. So now, come on. Let’s surrender to the Arameans’ camp.(B) If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.”

5 So the diseased men got up at twilight to go to the Arameans’ camp. When they came to the camp’s edge, they discovered that no one was there, 6 for the Lord[a] had caused the Aramean camp to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a large army.(C) The Arameans had said to each other, “The king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites(D) and the kings of Egypt(E) to attack us.” 7 So they had gotten up and fled(F) at twilight, abandoning their tents, horses, and donkeys. The camp was intact, and they had fled for their lives.

8 When these diseased men came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent to eat and drink. Then they picked up the silver, gold, and clothing and went off and hid them. They came back and entered another tent, picked things up, and hid them.(G) 9 Then they said to each other, “We’re not doing what is right. Today is a day of good news.(H) If we are silent and wait until morning light, our punishment will catch up with us. So let’s go tell the king’s household.”

10 The diseased men came and called to the city’s gatekeepers and told them, “We went to the Aramean camp and no one was there—no human sounds. There was nothing but tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents were intact.” 11 The gatekeepers called out, and the news was reported to the king’s household.

12 So the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving,(I) so they have left the camp to hide in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will take them alive and go into the city.’”(J)

13 But one of his servants responded, “Please, let messengers take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their fate is like the entire Israelite community who will die,[b] so let’s send them and see.”

14 The messengers took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and see.” 15 So they followed them as far as the Jordan. They saw that the whole way was littered with clothes and equipment the Arameans had thrown off in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king.

16 Then the people went out and plundered the Aramean camp.(K) It was then that six quarts of fine flour sold for a half ounce of silver and twelve quarts of barley sold for a half ounce of silver, according to the word of the Lord.(L) 17 The king had appointed the captain, his right-hand man,(M) to be in charge of the city gate, but the people trampled him in the gate. He died, just as the man of God had predicted when the king had come to him. 18 When the man of God had said to the king, “About this time tomorrow twelve quarts of barley will sell for a half ounce of silver and six quarts of fine flour will sell for a half ounce of silver at Samaria’s gate,” 19 this captain had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” Elisha had said, “You will in fact see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.”(N) 20 This is what happened to him: the people trampled him in the city gate, and he died.

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Footnotes

  1. 7:6 Some Hb mss read Lord
  2. 7:13 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr, Vg; other Hb mss read left in it. Indeed, they are like the whole multitude of Israel that are left in it; indeed, they are like the whole multitude of Israel who will die.
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