1 Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: 'By this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel.'"
2 The officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, "Even if the LORD were to open windows in the sky, could such a thing happen?" "You will see it with your own eyes," he said, "but you will not eat any of it."
3 Four men with leprosy were at the entrance to the gate, and they said to each other, "Why sit here until we die?
4 If we say, 'Let us go into the city,' there is famine in the city, and we will die there. If we stay here, we will die too. So come on, let us go over to the Syrian camp. If they let us live, we live; if they kill us, then we die."
5 At dusk they got up to go to the Syrian camp. When they reached the edge of the Syrian camp, there was not a man there.
6 For the Lord had made the Syrian army hear the noise of chariots and horses, the noise of a great army, and they said to one another, "The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to attack us!"
7 So they had got up and fled at dusk, abandoning their tents, their horses and their donkeys. They left the camp as it stood and ran for their lives.
8 When these lepers reached the edge of the camp, they went into a tent, ate and drank, and carried off silver, gold and clothes, which they went and hid. Then they came back, went into another tent, carried things off from it, and went and hid them too.
9 Then they told each other, "What we are doing is not right. Today is a day of good news, and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until morning light, guilt will catch up with us. Come on, let us go and report it at the king's palace."
10 So they went and called out to the city's gatekeepers and told them, "We went into the Syrian camp, and there was no one there, not a voice to be heard, only horses and donkeys tied up, and the tents just as they were."
11 The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported inside the king's palace.
12 The king got up during the night and told his servants, "I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are starving, so they have left the camp to hide out in the countryside. They are thinking, 'When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.'"
13 One of his servants answered, "Have some men take five of the horses still left in the city. Look, they are like the whole multitude of Israel that is left in it; they are like the whole multitude of Israel that has perished. Let us send them and find out."
14 They took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them out after the Syrian army with the order, "Go and find out."
15 They followed them as far as the Jordan, and the whole way was littered with clothing and gear the Syrians had thrown off as they fled in haste. The messengers came back and reported to the king.
16 Then the people went out and plundered the Syrian camp. A seah of fine flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, as the LORD had said.
17 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, just as the man of God had said when the king came down to him.
18 It turned out as the man of God had told the king: "Two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel and a seah of fine flour for a shekel by this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria."
19 The officer had answered the man of God, "Even if the LORD were to open windows in the sky, could such a thing happen?" And he had replied, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it."
20 And that is what happened to him: the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.