2 Kings 7:8 | New International Reader’s Version

New International Reader’s Version

1 Elisha replied, ‘Listen to a message from the LORD. He says, “About this time tomorrow, flour won’t cost very much. Even 5 kilograms of the finest flour will cost less than 12 grams of silver. You will also be able to buy 8 kilograms of barley for the same price. That’s all you will have to pay for those things at the gate of Samaria.” ’ 2 The king was leaning on an officer’s arm. The officer spoke to the man of God. The officer said, ‘Suppose the LORD opens the sky and pours down food on us. Even if he does, could what you are saying really happen?’ ‘You will see it with your own eyes,’ answered Elisha. ‘But you won’t eat any of it!’

The attack on Samaria ends

3 There were four men who had a skin disease. They were at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. They said to one another, ‘Why should we stay here until we die? 4 Suppose we say, “We’ll go into the city.” There isn’t any food there, and we’ll die. But if we stay here, we’ll die anyway. So let’s go over to Aram’s army camp. Let’s give ourselves up. If they spare us, we’ll live. If they kill us, we’ll die.’ 5 At sunset they got up and went to Aram’s army camp. They arrived at the edge of it. But no one was there. 6 The Lord had caused the soldiers of Aram to hear a noise. It sounded like chariots and horses and a huge army. So the soldiers said to one another, ‘Listen! The king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings. He has paid them to attack us!’ 7 So the soldiers of Aram had run away at sunset. They had left their tents and horses and donkeys behind. They had left the camp just as it was. And they had run for their lives. 8 The men who had a skin disease arrived at the edge of the camp. They entered one of the tents. They ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes. They went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent. They took some things from it and hid them also. 9 But then they said to one another, ‘What we’re doing isn’t right. This is a day of good news. And we’re keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until sunrise, we’ll be punished. Let’s go at once. Let’s report this to the royal palace.’ 10 So they went. They called out to the people who were guarding the city gates. They told them, ‘We went into Aram’s army camp. No one was there. We didn’t hear anyone. The horses and donkeys were still tied up. The tents were left just as they were.’ 11 The people who guarded the gates shouted the news. It was reported inside the palace. 12 The king of Israel got up in the night. He spoke to his officers. He said, ‘I’ll tell you what the men of Aram have done to us. They know we are very hungry. So they have left the camp to hide in the countryside. They are thinking, “We are sure they’ll come out. Then we’ll take them alive. And we’ll get into the city.” ’ 13 One of the king’s officers said, ‘A few horses are still left in the city. Have some men get five of them. Those men won’t be any worse off than all the other Israelites who are left here. In fact, all of us will soon be dead anyway. So let’s send the men to find out what happened.’ 14 The men chose two chariots and their horses. The king sent them out to look for Aram’s army. He commanded the drivers, ‘Go and find out what has happened.’ 15 They followed the trail of Aram’s soldiers all the way to the River Jordan. They found clothes and supplies all along the road. The soldiers had thrown them down when they ran away. So the men who were sent out returned. They reported to the king what they had seen. 16 Then the people went out of the city. They took everything of value from Aram’s army camp. So 5 kilograms of the finest flour sold for less than 12 grams of silver. And 10 kilograms of barley sold for the same price. That’s exactly what the LORD had said would happen. 17 The king had put an officer in charge of the city gate. He was the officer on whose arm the king leaned. On their way out of the city, the people knocked the officer down. In the entrance of the gate he was crushed as they walked on top of him. And so he died. That’s exactly what the man of God had said would happen. He had said it when the king came down to his house. 18 What Elisha, the man of God, had told the king came true. Elisha had said, ‘About this time tomorrow, flour won’t cost very much. Even 5 kilograms of the finest flour will cost less than 12 grams of silver. You will also be able to buy 10 kilograms of barley for the same price. That’s all you will have to pay for those things at the gate of Samaria.’ 19 The officer had spoken to the man of God. The officer had said, ‘Suppose the LORD opens the sky and pours down food on us. Even if he does, could what you are saying really happen?’ The man of God had replied, ‘You will see it with your own eyes. But you won’t eat any of it!’ 20 And that’s exactly what happened to the officer. On their way out of the city, the people knocked him down. In the entrance of the gate he was crushed as they walked on top of him. And so he died.

English Standard Version

Elisha Promises Food

1 But Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a seah^[1] of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel,^[2] and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.” (2Ki 7:18) 2 Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” (Ge 7:11; 2Ki 5:18; 2Ki 7:17; 2Ki 7:19; Mal 3:10)

Ge 7:112Ki 5:182Ki 7:172Ki 7:19Mal 3:10

The Syrians Flee

3 Now there were four men who were lepers^[3] at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? (Le 13:46) 4 If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.” 5 So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there. 6 For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.” (2Sa 5:24; 1Ki 10:29; 2Ki 6:17; Job 15:21)

2Sa 5:241Ki 10:292Ki 6:17Job 15:21

7 So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives. (Ps 48:4; Pr 28:1) 8 And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it 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. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king’s household.” 10 So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied and the donkeys tied and the tents as they were.” 11 Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was told within the king’s household. 12 And the king rose in the night and said to his servants, “I will tell 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 open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.’” 13 And one of his servants said, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, seeing that those who are left here will fare like the whole multitude of Israel who have already perished. Let us send and see.” 14 So they took two horsemen, and the king sent them after the army of the Syrians, saying, “Go and see.” 15 So they went after them as far as the Jordan, and behold, all the way was littered with garments and equipment that the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king. 16 Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So 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. (2Ki 7:1) 17 Now the king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. And the people trampled him in the gate, so that he died, as the man of God had said when the king came down to him. (2Ki 6:32; 2Ki 7:2) 18 For when the man of God had said to the king, “Two seahs of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria,” 19 the captain had answered the man of God, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he had said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” (2Ki 7:2; 2Ki 7:17) 20 And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate and he died.