1Elisha said, “Listen to Yahweh’s message. Yahweh says, ‘Tomorrow about this time, a seah (about 7.3 liters) of fine flour will sell for one shekel, and two seahs of barley will sell for one shekel at the gate of Samaria.’”
2Then the officer, on whose arm the king leaned, answered the man of God, and said, “Look, even if Yahweh made windows in heaven, could this really happen?” Elisha said, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it.”
3Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die?
4If we say, ‘Let’s go into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we will die there. If we just sit here, we will also die. So now, let’s go and surrender to the Syrian army. If they let us live, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die.”
5They got up at dusk to go to the Syrian camp. When they reached the edge of the Syrian camp, no one was there.
6For the Lord had caused the Syrian army to hear the sound of chariots, and the sound of horses, the noise of a large army. So they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us.”
7Therefore, they got up and fled at dusk, leaving their tents, horses, donkeys, and the camp exactly as it was, and fled for their lives.
8When these men with leprosy came to the edge of the camp, they went into one tent, ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid it. Then they came back, entered another tent, took things from there as well, and went and hid them.
9Then they said to one another, “We aren’t doing the right thing. Today is a day of good news, and we are keeping quiet. If we wait until morning light, punishment will come upon us. So now, let’s go and tell the king’s household.”
10So they went and called to the city gatekeepers. They told them, “We went to the Syrian camp, and there was no one there—not even a sound of people. Only horses and donkeys were tied up, and the tents were just as they had been left.”
11He called the gatekeepers, and they reported this to the king’s household inside the city.
12The king got up in the night and said to his servants, “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are hungry. So they have left their camp to hide in the fields, thinking, ‘When the Israelites come out of the city, we will capture them alive and then enter the city ourselves.’”
13One of his servants replied, “Please let some men take five of the remaining horses in the city. Look, they are like all the rest of Israel who are still here; they are like all of Israel who are already dying. Let’s send them to see what happened.”
14So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them out toward the Syrian army, saying, “Go and see.”
15They followed the Syrians all the way to the Jordan River. Along the entire road, there were clothes and equipment that the Syrians had thrown away in their rush to escape. The messengers returned and reported this to the king.
16Then the people went out and looted the Syrian camp. As a result, a basket of fine flour sold for one shekel, and two measures of barley sold for one shekel, just as Yahweh had promised.
17The king had put the officer he leaned on in charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had predicted when the king came to him.
18It happened just as the man of God had told the king: “Tomorrow, about this time, at the gate of Samaria, two measures of barley will sell for one shekel, and a basket of fine flour will sell for one shekel.”
19That officer answered the man of God, “Look, even if Yahweh made windows in heaven, how could such a thing happen?” And the prophet replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it.”
20And that’s exactly what happened to him; the people trampled him in the city gate, and he died.