1And Elisha said, Hear the word of Jehovah. Thus saith Jehovah: To-morrow about this time shall the measure of fine flour be at a shekel, and two measures of barley at a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.

2And the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of ³⁸God and said, Behold, if Jehovah should make windows in the heavens, would this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

3And there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate, and they said one to another, Why do we abide here until we die?

4If we say, Let us enter into the city, the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we abide here, we shall die. And now come, let us fall away to the camp of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they put us to death, we shall but die.

5And they rose up in the dusk to go to the camp of the Syrians; and they came to the extremity of the camp of the Syrians; and behold, there was no man there.

6For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, a noise of a great host; and they said one to another, Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.

7And they rose up and fled in the dusk, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, the camp as it was, and fled for their life.

8And those lepers came to the extremity of the camp; and they went into one tent, and ate and drank, and carried thence silver and gold, and garments, and went and hid it; and they came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence, and went and hid [it].

9And they said one to another, We are not doing right; this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, the iniquity will find us out; and now come, let us go and tell the king's household.

10And they came and called to the porters of the city, and told them saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no one there, no sound of man, but the horses tied, and the asses tied, and the tents as they were.

11And the porters cried [it] and told [it] to the king's house within.

12And the king rose up in the night and said to his servants, Let me tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry, and they have 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.

13And one of his servants answered and said, Let some one 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, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that have perished), and let us send and see.

14And they took two chariots with their horses; and the king sent after the army of the Syrians, saying, Go and see.

15And they went after them to the Jordan; and behold, all the way was full of garments and materials, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.

16And the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians; and the measure of fine flour was at a shekel, and two measures of barley at a shekel, according to the word of Jehovah.

17And the king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate; and the people trampled upon him in the gate, and he died, according to what the man of ³⁹God had said, — what he had said when the king came down to him.

18And it came to pass as the man of ⁴⁰God had spoken to the king saying, Two measures of barley shall be at a shekel, and the measure of fine flour at a shekel, to-morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria.

19And the captain answered the man of ⁴¹God and said, Behold, if Jehovah should make windows in the heavens, would such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

20And so it happened to him; and the people trampled upon him in the gate, and he died.