2 Kings 7:1-8:15

1 Then Elisha said, “Listen to the word of the Lord; this is what the Lord says: ‘About this time tomorrow a ^[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 The royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning responded to the man of God and said, “Even if the Lord were to make ^[b]windows in heaven, could this thing happen?” Then he said, “Behold, you are going to see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat ^[c]any of it.”

³ Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city and we will die there; but if we sit here, we will also die. Now then come, and let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, then we will die.” ⁵ So they got up at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans; when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no one there. ⁶ For the Lord had made the army of the Arameans hear a sound of chariots, a sound of horses, that is, the sound of a great army; and they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians against us, to ^[d]attack us!” ⁷ So they got up and fled at twilight, and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—indeed the camp itself, just as it was; and they fled for their lives. ⁸ When these men with leprosy came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and carried from there silver, gold, and clothes, and they went and hid them; then they returned and entered another tent, and carried valuables from there also, and went and hid them.

⁹ Then they said to one another, “We are not doing the right thing. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent about it; if we wait until the morning light, punishment will ^[e]overtake us. Now then come, let’s go and inform the king’s household.” ¹⁰ So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no one there, nor a human voice; only the horses tied and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were.” ¹¹ And the gatekeepers called and announced it inside the king’s house. ¹² Then the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are hungry; so they have 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 responded and said, “Please, have some men take five of the horses that remain, which are left ^[f]in the city. Behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it; behold, they will be like all the multitude of Israel who have already perished, so let us send them and see.” ¹⁴ Therefore they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.”

¹⁵ They went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away when they fled in a hurry. Then the messengers returned and informed the king.

¹⁶ So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a ^[g]measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two ^[h]measures of barley for a shekel, in accordance with the word of the Lord. ¹⁷ Now the king appointed the royal officer on whose hand he leaned ^[i]to be in charge of the gate; but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. ¹⁸ So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two ^[j]measures of barley for a shekel and a ^[k]measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be sold about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.” ¹⁹ At that time the royal officer had responded to the man of God and said, “Now even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could such a thing as this happen?” And he had said, “Behold, you are going to see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat ^[l]any of it.” ²⁰ And this is what happened to him, for the people trampled on him at the gate and he died.

Chapter 8

1 Now Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise and go ^[m]with your household, and live wherever you can live; for the Lord has called for a famine, and it will indeed come on the land for seven years.” ² So the woman arose and acted in accordance with the word of the man of God: she went with her household and resided in the land of the Philistines for seven years. ³ Then at the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went to ^[n]appeal to the king for her house and for her field. ⁴ Now the king was speaking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please report to me all the great things that Elisha has done.” ⁵ And as he was reporting to the king how he had restored to life the one who was dead, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life ^[o]appealed to the king for her house and for her field. And Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.” ⁶ When the king asked the woman, she told everything to him. So the king appointed an officer for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers and all the produce of the field from the day that she left the land even until now.”

⁷ Then Elisha came to Damascus. Now Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, was sick, and it was told to him, saying, “The man of God has come here.” ⁸ And the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” ⁹ So Hazael went to meet him and took a gift in his hand, even every kind of good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ loads; and he came and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’” ¹⁰ Then Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You will certainly recover’; but the Lord has shown me that he will certainly die.” ¹¹ And he ^[p]stared steadily at him until Hazael was embarrassed, and then the man of God wept. ¹² And Hazael said, “Why is my lord weeping?” And he ^[q]answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: you will set their fortified cities on fire, you will kill their young men with the sword, their little ones you will smash to pieces, and you will rip up their pregnant women.” ¹³ Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant—a lowly dog—that he could do this great thing?” And Elisha ^[r]answered, “The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.” ¹⁴ So he left Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he ^[s]answered, “He told me that you would certainly recover.” ¹⁵ But on the following day, he took the ^[t]cover and dipped it in water, and spread it over his face, so that he died. And Hazael became king in his place.