1. Elisha said, “Listen to the message from the Lord! The Lord says, ‘About this time tomorrow, there will be plenty of food, and it will be cheap again. A person will be able to buy a basket of fine flour or two baskets of barley for only one shekel in the marketplace by the city gates of Samaria.’”
2. Then the officer who was close to the king answered the man of God. The officer said, “Even if the Lord made windows in heaven, this could not happen.” Elisha said, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of that food.”
3. There were four men sick with leprosy near the city gate. They said to each other, “Why are we sitting here waiting to die?
4. There is no food in Samaria. If we go into the city, we will die there. If we stay here, we will also die. So let’s go to the Aramean camp. If they let us live, we will live. If they kill us, we will just die.”
5. So that evening the four lepers went to the Aramean camp. When they came to the edge of the camp, no one was there!
6. The Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a large army. So the soldiers said to each other, “The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to come against us.”
7. The Arameans ran away early that evening. They left everything behind. They left their tents, horses, and donkeys and ran for their lives.
8. When these lepers came to where the camp began, they went into one tent. They ate and drank. Then they carried silver, gold, and clothes out of the camp and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent. They carried things out from this tent and went out and hid them.
9. Then they said to each other, “We are doing wrong! Today we have good news, but we are silent. If we wait until the sun comes up, we will be punished. Now let’s go and tell the people who live in the king’s palace.”
10. So the lepers came and called to the gatekeepers of the city. They told the gatekeepers, “We went to the Aramean camp, but we did not hear anyone. No one was there, but the horses and donkeys were still tied up, and the tents were still standing.”
11. Then the gatekeepers of the city shouted out and told the people in the king’s palace.