1. Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord: Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.”
2. Then an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, “If the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this thing happen?”And he said, “You will see it with your eyes, but you will not eat from it.”
3. There were four leprous men at the entry of the gate, and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die?
4. If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. But if we sit here, we die also. Now come, let us fall into the camp of the Arameans. If they spare our lives, we will live, and if they kill us, we will die.”
5. So they rose at twilight to enter the camp of the Arameans. When they came to the edge of the camp of the Arameans, there was no one there.
6. For the Lord had caused the Aramean camp to hear the sound of chariots, horses, even the sound of a large army, so that they said to one another, “Listen, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come against us.”
7. So they got up and ran away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys. The camp remained just as it was, and they ran for their lives.
8. When these leprous men came to the edge of the camp, they went into one tent. They ate and drank, carried off silver, gold, and clothes, and went and hid them. Then they went back, entered another tent, and carried off things from there and went and hid them.
9. Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right today. This is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, we will be found guilty. Let us go now and enter the city and tell the king’s household.”
10. So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and they told them, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and there was no one there. There was no sound of a man’s voice, only horses tied, donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.”
11. Then the gatekeepers called out and told the king’s household inside.
12. The king got up in the night and said to his servants, “I will show you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are starving, so they left the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.’ ”
13. One of his servants answered, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, since those remaining will suffer the fate of the whole multitude of Israel that have perished already; so let us send them and see.”