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2 Kings 7
New English Translation

7 1 Elisha replied, “Listen to the Lord’s message. This is what the Lord has said, ‘About this time tomorrow a seah[a] of finely milled flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.’” 2 An officer who was the king’s right-hand man[b] responded to the prophet,[c] “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?”[d] Elisha[e] said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”[f]

3 Now four men with a skin disease[g] were sitting at the entrance of the city gate. They said to one another, “Why are we just sitting here waiting to die?[h] 4 If we go into the city, we’ll die of starvation,[i] and if we stay here we’ll die! So come on, let’s defect[j] to the Syrian camp! If they spare us,[k] we’ll live; if they kill us—well, we were going to die anyway.”[l] 5 So they started toward[m] the Syrian camp at dusk. When they reached the edge of the Syrian camp, there was no one there. 6 The Lord had caused the Syrian camp to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a large army. Then they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has paid the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us!” 7 So they got up and fled at dusk, leaving behind their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. 8 When the men with a skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they entered a tent and had a meal.[n] They also took some silver, gold, and clothes and went and hid it all.[o] Then they went back and entered another tent. They looted it[p] and went and hid what they had taken. 9 Then they said to one another, “It’s not right what we’re doing! This is a day to celebrate, but we haven’t told anyone.[q] If we wait until dawn,[r] we’ll be punished.[s] So come on, let’s go and inform the royal palace.” 10 So they went and called out to the gatekeepers[t] of the city. They told them, “We entered the Syrian camp and there was no one there. We didn’t even hear a man’s voice.[u] But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up.”[v] 11 The gatekeepers relayed the news to the royal palace.[w]

12 The king got up in the night and said to his advisers,[x] “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are starving, so they left the camp and hid in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and enter the city.’” 13 One of his advisers replied, “Pick some men and have them take five of the horses that are left in the city. (Even if they are killed, their fate will be no different than that of all the Israelite people—we’re all going to die!)[y] Let’s send them out so we can know for sure what’s going on.”[z] 14 So they picked two horsemen and the king sent them out to track the Syrian army.[aa] He ordered them, “Go and find out what’s going on.”[ab] 15 So they tracked them[ac] as far as the Jordan. The road was filled with clothes and equipment that the Syrians had discarded in their haste.[ad] The scouts[ae] went back and told the king. 16 Then the people went out and looted the Syrian camp. A seah[af] of finely milled flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, just as in the Lord’s message.

17 Now the king had placed the officer who was his right-hand man[ag] at the city gate. When the people rushed out, they trampled him to death in the gate.[ah] This fulfilled the prophet’s word which he had spoken when the king tried to arrest him.[ai] 18 The prophet had told the king, “Two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of finely milled flour for a shekel; this will happen about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria.” 19 But the officer had replied to the prophet, “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?”[aj] Elisha[ak] had said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”[al] 20 This is exactly what happened to him. The people trampled him to death in the city gate.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 7:1 sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 11 quarts (11 liters).
  2. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “the officer on whose hand the king leans.”
  3. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “man of God.”
  4. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” Opening holes in the sky would allow the waters stored up there to pour to the earth and assure a good crop. But, the officer argues, even if this were to happen, it would take a long time to grow and harvest the crop.
  5. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  6. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”
  7. 2 Kings 7:3 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 5:1.
  8. 2 Kings 7:3 tn Heb “until we die.”
  9. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city and we will die there.”
  10. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “fall.”
  11. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “keep us alive.”
  12. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “we will die.” The paraphrastic translation attempts to bring out the logical force of their reasoning.
  13. 2 Kings 7:5 tn Heb “they arose to go to.”
  14. 2 Kings 7:8 tn Heb “they ate and drank.”
  15. 2 Kings 7:8 tn Heb “and they hid [it].”
  16. 2 Kings 7:8 tn Heb “and they took from there.”
  17. 2 Kings 7:9 tn Heb “this day is a day of good news and we are keeping silent.”
  18. 2 Kings 7:9 tn Heb “the light of the morning.”
  19. 2 Kings 7:9 tn Heb “punishment will find us.”
  20. 2 Kings 7:10 tn The MT has a singular form (“gatekeeper”), but the context suggests a plural. The pronoun that follows (“them”) is plural and a plural noun appears in v. 11. The Syriac Peshitta and the Targum have the plural here.
  21. 2 Kings 7:10 tn Heb “and, look, there was no man or voice of a man there.”
  22. 2 Kings 7:10 tn Heb “but the horses are tied up and the donkeys are tied up and the tents are as they were.”
  23. 2 Kings 7:11 tn Heb “and the gatekeepers called out and they told [it] within the house of the king.”
  24. 2 Kings 7:12 tn Heb “servants” (also in v. 13).
  25. 2 Kings 7:13 tn Heb “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.” The MT is dittographic here; the words “that remain in it. Look they are like all the people of Israel” have been accidentally repeated. The original text read, “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.”
  26. 2 Kings 7:13 tn Heb “and let us send so we might see.”
  27. 2 Kings 7:14 tn Heb “and the king sent [them] after the Syrian camp.”
  28. 2 Kings 7:14 tn Heb “Go and see.”
  29. 2 Kings 7:15 tn Heb “went after.”
  30. 2 Kings 7:15 tn Heb “and look, all the road was full of clothes and equipment that Syria had thrown away in their haste.”
  31. 2 Kings 7:15 tn Or “messengers.”
  32. 2 Kings 7:16 sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 11 quarts (11 liters).
  33. 2 Kings 7:17 tn Heb “the officer on whose hand he leans.”
  34. 2 Kings 7:17 tn Heb “and the people trampled him in the gate and he died.”
  35. 2 Kings 7:17 tn Heb “just as the man of God had spoken, [the word] which he spoke when the king came down to him.”
  36. 2 Kings 7:19 tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” See the note at 7:2.
  37. 2 Kings 7:19 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  38. 2 Kings 7:19 tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”tn In the Hebrew text vv. 18-19a are one lengthy sentence, “When the man of God spoke to the king…, the officer replied to the man of God, ‘Look…so soon?’” The translation divides this sentence up for stylistic reasons.
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2 Kings 7
New International Version

7 Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah[a] of the finest flour will sell for a shekel[b] and two seahs[c] of barley for a shekel(A) at the gate of Samaria.”

2 The officer on whose arm the king was leaning(B) said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates(C) of the heavens, could this happen?”

“You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat(D) any of it!”

The Siege Lifted

3 Now there were four men with leprosy[d](E) at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”

5 At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, 6 for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound(F) of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired(G) the Hittite(H) and Egyptian kings to attack us!” 7 So they got up and fled(I) in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

8 The men who had leprosy(J) reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.

9 Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”

10 So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, “We went into the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a sound of anyone—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were.” 11 The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.

12 The king got up in the night and said to his officers, “I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide(K) in the countryside, thinking, ‘They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.’”

13 One of his officers answered, “Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here—yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened.”

14 So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, “Go and find out what has happened.” 15 They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight.(L) So the messengers returned and reported to the king. 16 Then the people went out and plundered(M) the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of the finest flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel,(N) as the Lord had said.

17 Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died,(O) just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house. 18 It happened as the man of God had said to the king: “About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”

19 The officer had said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates(P) of the heavens, could this happen?” The man of God had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” 20 And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 7:1 That is, probably about 12 pounds or about 5.5 kilograms of flour; also in verses 16 and 18
  2. 2 Kings 7:1 That is, about 2/5 ounce or about 12 grams; also in verses 16 and 18
  3. 2 Kings 7:1 That is, probably about 20 pounds or about 9 kilograms of barley; also in verses 16 and 18
  4. 2 Kings 7:3 The Hebrew for leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin; also in verse 8.
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