³ Now four men with a skin disease^(A) were at the entrance to the city gate. They said to each other, “Why just sit here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘Let’s go into the city,’ we will die there because the famine is in the city, but if we sit here, we will also die. So now, come on. Let’s surrender to the Arameans’ camp.^(B) If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.”

¹⁵ Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to feed this people wormwood^(A) and give them poisonous water to drink.^(B)

A Warning for the People

⁸ “But tell this people, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.^{(A) 9} Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live and will retain his life like the spoils of war.^(B)