Elisha promises that food will be cheap by the next day. Four lepers find the Syrian camp abandoned after the LORD made the Syrians hear the sound of a great army. The people plunder the camp, and the doubting officer is trampled.
1 Then Elisha said , Hear ye the word of the LORD ; Thus saith the LORD , To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel , and two measures of barley for a shekel , in the gate of Samaria .
2 Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God , and said , Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven , might this thing be? And he said , Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes , but shalt not eat thereof.
3 And there were four leprous men at the entering in 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 were come to the uttermost 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 Wherefore 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 uttermost part of the camp , they went into one tent , and did eat and drink , and carried thence silver , and gold , and raiment , and went and hid it; and came again , and entered into another tent , and carried thence also, and went and hid it.
9 Then they said one to another , We do not well: 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 porter 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 porters ; 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 shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry ; therefore are they 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 that 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 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 spoiled 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 trode upon him in the gate , and he died , as the man of God had said , who spake 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 to morrow 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 fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate , and he died .