1And Elisha says, “Hear a word of YHWH! Thus said YHWH: About this time tomorrow, a measure of fine flour [is] at a shekel, and two measures of barley at a shekel, in the Gate of Samaria.”
2And the captain whom the king has, by whose hand he has been supported, answers the man of God and says, “Behold, YHWH is making windows in the heavens—will this thing be?” And he says, “Behold, you are seeing it with your eyes, and you do not eat thereof.”
3And four men have been leprous at the opening of the gate, and they say to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we have died?
4If we have said, We go into the city, then the famine [is] in the city and we have died there; and if we have sat here, then we have died; and now, come and we go down to the camp of Aram; if they keep us alive, we live, and if they put us to death—we have died.”
5And they rise in the twilight, to go to the camp of Aram, and they come to the extremity of the camp of Aram, and behold, there is not a man there,
6seeing YHWH has caused the camp of Aram to hear a noise of chariot and a noise of horse—a noise of great force, and they say 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.”
7And they rise and flee in the twilight, and forsake their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys—the camp as it [is]—and flee for their life.
8And these lepers come to the extremity of the camp, and come into one tent, and eat, and drink, and lift up silver, and gold, and garments from there, and go and hide; and they turn back and go into another tent, and lift up from there, and go and hide.
9And they say to one another, “We are not doing right this day; it [is] a day of tidings, and we are keeping silent; and we have waited until the morning light, then punishment has found us; and now, come and we go in and declare [it] to the house of the king.”
10And they come in, and call to the gatekeeper of the city, and declare for themselves, saying, “We have come to the camp of Aram, and behold, there is no man or sound of man there, but the bound horse, and the bound donkey, and tents as they [are].”
11And he calls the gatekeepers, and they declare [it] to the house of the king within.
12And the king rises by night and says to his servants, “Now let me declare to you that which the Arameans have done to us; they have known that we are famished, and they go out from the camp to be hidden in the field, saying, When they come out from the city, then we catch them alive, and we enter into the city.”
13And one of his servants answers and says, “Then please let them take five of the horses that are left, that have been left in it—behold, they [are] as all the multitude of Israel who have been left in it; behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel who have been consumed—and we send and see.”
14And they take two chariot-horses, and the king sends [them] after the camp of Aram, saying, “Go, and see.”
15And they go after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way is full of garments and vessels that the Arameans have cast away in their haste, and the messengers return and declare [it] to the king.
16And the people go out and spoil the camp of Aram, and there is a measure of fine flour at a shekel, and two measures of barley at a shekel, according to the word of YHWH.
17And the king has appointed the captain, by whose hand he is supported, over the gate, and the people tread him down in the gate, and he dies, as the man of God spoke, which he spoke in the coming down of the king to him,
18indeed, it comes to pass, according to the speaking of the man of God to the king, saying, “Two measures of barley at a shekel, and a measure of fine flour at a shekel are, at this time tomorrow, in the Gate of Samaria”;
19and the captain answers the man of God and says, “And behold, YHWH is making windows in the heavens—will this thing be?” And he says, “Behold, you are seeing it with your eyes, and you do not eat thereof”;
20and it comes to him so, and the people tread him down in the gate, and he dies.