2 Kings 7

Elisha Announces Abundance

1Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD: About this time tomorrow, a seah of fine flour will be sold for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.” 2Then the officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, even if the LORD made windows in the heavens, could this thing happen?” He said, “Look, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat from it.”

Four Men with Skin Disease Go to the Aramean Camp

3Now four men with skin disease were at the entrance of the gate. They said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we will die there. If we sit here, we will die. And now come, let us fall away to the camp of Aram. If they let us live, we will live; and if they put us to death, we will die.” 5So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of Aram. They came to the edge of the camp of Aram, and look, there was no one there.

The LORD Makes Aram Hear a Great Army

6For the Lord had caused the camp of Aram to hear the sound of chariots, the sound of horses, the sound of a great army. They said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.” 7So they arose and fled at twilight and abandoned their tents, horses, and donkeys—the camp just as it was—and fled for their lives.

This Is a Day of Good News

8When these men with skin disease came to the edge of the camp, they entered one tent, ate and drank, and carried from there silver, gold, and clothing and went and hid them. Then they returned and entered another tent, carried things from there, and went and hid them. 9But they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent. If we wait until morning light, guilt will find us. And now come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” 10So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, saying, “We came to the camp of Aram, and look, there was no one there and no human voice—only horses tied, donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.” 11The gatekeepers called out, and they told it inside the king’s household.

The King Suspects a Trap

12The king arose in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are hungry, so they have gone out from the camp to hide in the field, saying, ‘When they come out from the city, we will seize them alive and enter the city.’” 13One of his servants answered and said, “Please let men take five of the horses that remain, which remain in the city. Look, they are like all the multitude of Israel that remains in it; look, they are like all the multitude of Israel that has perished. Let us send and see.” 14So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent after the army of Aram, saying, “Go and see.” 15They went after them as far as the Jordan, and look, all the way was full of garments and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king.

Elisha’s Word Is Fulfilled

16Then the people went out and plundered the camp of Aram. A seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. 17Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned over the gate, but the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had spoken when the king came down to him. 18And it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley for a shekel and a seah of fine flour for a shekel—about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.” 19The officer had answered the man of God and said, “Look, even if the LORD made windows in the heavens, could such a thing happen?” And he had said, “Look, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat from it.” 20And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.