2 Kings 7

7 ¹Elisha said, "Hear the word of our Father. This is what our Father says: By this time tomorrow, seven quarts of fine flour will sell for four ounces of silver, and fourteen quarts of barley for four ounces of silver, at the gate of Samaria."

²Then the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of our Father, "Look, even if our Father opened windows in the heavens, could this happen?" Elisha replied, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it."

The Father Scatters the Aramean Army

³Four men with a skin disease were at the gate entrance, and said to each other, "Why sit here until we die? ⁴If we say, 'Let's enter the city,' the famine is there, and we die. If we stay here, we die too. So come, let's go over to the Aramean camp. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, we die."

⁵So at twilight they rose to go to the Aramean camp. Reaching its edge, they found no one there. ⁶For the Sovereign Father had made the Aramean army hear the sound of chariots and horses, the sound of a great army, so they said to one another, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and of Egypt to attack us!" ⁷So they got up and fled at twilight, leaving their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and fled for their lives. ⁸When these men with the skin disease reached the camp's edge, they entered one tent, ate and drank, then carried off silver, gold, and clothing and hid them. They returned, entered another tent, took things from it, and hid those too. ⁹They said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of good news, and we're keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until morning light, punishment will find us. Now come, let's go at once and tell the king's household."

¹⁰So they came and called to the city gatekeepers, reporting: "We went to the Aramean camp—no one there, no human sound, only horses and donkeys tied up, and the tents just as they were."

¹¹The gatekeepers called out the news, and it was reported inside the king's household.

¹²That night the king rose and told his officials, "Let me tell you the Arameans' plan against us. They know we're starving, so they've left camp to hide in the fields, thinking: When they leave the city, we'll take them alive and get inside."

¹³One of his servants said, "Have some men take five of the horses left in the city. They will fare like all the Israelites left here—like all the Israelites already dead. Let us send them and see."

¹⁴So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, "Go, find out." ¹⁵They followed them to the Jordan; the whole road was littered with clothes and gear the Arameans threw off in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king.

¹⁶The people went out and plundered the Aramean camp. So seven quarts of fine flour sold for four ounces of silver, and fourteen quarts of barley for four ounces of silver, as our Father had said. ¹⁷The king had put the captain on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate; the crowd trampled him there, and he died—just as the man of our Father had said when the king came down to him. ¹⁸It happened just as the man of our Father told the king: "About this time tomorrow at Samaria's gate, fourteen quarts of barley will sell for four ounces of silver, and seven quarts of fine flour for four ounces of silver." ¹⁹The officer had answered the man of our Father, "Look, even if our Father opened windows in the heavens, could such a thing happen?" And he replied, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it." ²⁰This is exactly what happened: the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.