¹ Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus hath the LORD said, Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour [shall be sold] for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.

² Then a captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, Behold, [if] the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see [it] with thine eyes, but shalt not eat of it.

³ And there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate, who said one to another, Why shall we stay here until we die?

⁴ If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine [is] in the city, and we shall die there; and if we stay here, we shall die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians; if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.

⁵ And they rose up at the beginning of the night, to go unto the camp of the Syrians; and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, [there was] no man there.

⁶ For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses, [even] the noise of a great host; and they said one to another, Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.

⁷ Therefore they had arisen and fled at the beginning of the night and had left their tents and their horses and their asses, even the camp as it [was], and had fled for their lives.

⁸ And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank and took silver and gold and raiment and went and hid [it] and came again and entered into another tent and took from there [also] and went and hid [it].

⁹ Then they said one to another, We do not well; this day [is] a day to [give] good tidings, and we are silent; if we tarry until the morning light, we shall be taken in the iniquity. Now, therefore, come, that we may enter in and give the news in the king's house.

¹⁰ So they came and called unto the porter of the city, and they told them, saying, We went to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, [there was] no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied and asses tied, and the tents as they [were].

¹¹ And the porters cried out and told [it] inside and in the king's house.

¹² And the king arose in the night and said unto his servants, I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we [are] hungry; therefore, they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive and get into the city.

¹³ Then one of his servants answered and said, Let [some] take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city (for they [are] as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; they [are] also as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed) and let us send and see.

¹⁴ They took, therefore, two chariot horses; and the king sent after the camp of the Syrians, saying, Go and see.

¹⁵ And they went after them unto the Jordan; and, behold, all the way [was] full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.

¹⁶ Then the people went out and spoiled the camp of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was [sold] for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.

¹⁷ And the king appointed the prince on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate; and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.

¹⁸ And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria.

¹⁹ Unto which that prince had answered the man of God, and said, Even if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat of it.

²⁰ And so it happened unto him, for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.: