Four Men with Leprosy Report Arameans’ Flight

³ Now there were four ^(A)leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting 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; but if we sit here, we will also die. Now then come, and let’s go over to ^(B)the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, then we will die.” ⁵ So they got up at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans; when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no one there. ⁶ For ^(C)the Lord had made the army of the Arameans hear a sound of chariots, a sound of horses, that is, the sound of a great army; and they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired ^(D)the kings of the Hittites and ^(E)the kings of the Egyptians against us, to ^[a]attack us!” ⁷ So they ^(F)got up and fled at twilight, and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—indeed the camp itself, just as it was; and they fled for their lives. ⁸ When these men with leprosy came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and ^(G)carried from there silver, gold, and clothes, and they went and hid them; then they returned and entered another tent, and carried valuables from there also, and went and hid them.

⁹ Then they said to one another, “We are not doing the right thing. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent about it; if we wait until the morning light, punishment will ^[b]overtake us. Now then come, let’s go and inform the king’s household.” ¹⁰ So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no one there, nor a human voice; only the horses tied and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were.” ¹¹ And the gatekeepers called and announced it inside the king’s house. ¹² Then the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that ^(H)we are hungry; so they have left the camp ^(I)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 responded and said, “Please, have some men take five of the horses that remain, which are left ^[c]in the city. Behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it; behold, they will be like all the multitude of Israel who have already perished, so let us send them and see.” ¹⁴ Therefore they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.”

The Promise Fulfilled

¹⁵ They went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away when they fled in a hurry. Then the messengers returned and informed the king.

¹⁶ So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a ^[d]measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two ^[e]measures of barley for a shekel, ^(J)in accordance with the word of the Lord. ¹⁷ Now the king appointed ^(K)the royal officer on whose hand he leaned ^[f]to be in charge of the gate; but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, ^(L)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, “^(M)Two ^[g]measures of barley for a shekel and a ^[h]measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be sold about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.” ¹⁹ At that time the royal officer had responded to the man of God and said, “Now even if ^(N)the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could such a thing as this happen?” And he had said, “Behold, you are going to see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat ^[i]any of it.” ²⁰ And this is what happened to him, for the people trampled on him at the gate and he died.