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.”
14. So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.”
15. So they went after them to the Jordan, and the whole way was full of clothes and vessels, which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told the king.