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¹ THEN Elisha said, Hear the word of the LORD; thus says the LORD: 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 the kings aide answered and said, If the LORD should make windows in heaven, could this thing be? And Elisha said to him, Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.

³ Now there were four leprous men sitting at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, Why do we sit here until we die?⁴ If we say, We will enter into the city, the famine is severe in the city, and we shall die there; and if we still sit here, we die also. Now therefore come and let us go to the camp of Aram; if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they put us to death, we shall but die.⁵ So they rose up early in the twilight to go to the camp of Aram; and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp, behold, there was no man there;⁶ For the LORD had made the army of Aram hear the noise of horses and the noise of chariots and the noise of a great army; and they said to one another, Lo, the king of Israel has hired against us the king of the Egyptians and the king of the Hittites to come upon us.⁷ Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, their horses, and their asses, even their camp as it was, and they fled for their lives.⁸ And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank and took from there silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid it; then they came again and entered into another tent and carried booty from there also and went and hid it.⁹ Then they said one to another, We are not doing right; this day is a day of good tidings, and how long shall we remain silent? If we wait until the morning light, some mischief will come upon us; now therefore come, let us go and tell the kings household.¹⁰ So they came and called to the doorkeepers of the city; and they told them, saying, We went to the camp of Aram, and behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied and asses tied and tents as they were.¹¹ And the doorkeepers called out and told it to the kings household within.

¹² And the king arose 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; therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall capture them alive and then get into the city.¹³ And one of his servants answered and said, Let some horsemen take five of the horses that remain; if they are captured, let them be considered a loss like all the army of Israel that has perished; therefore let us send and see.¹⁴ So two couples of horsemen mounted, and the king sent them after the army of Aram, saying, Go and see.¹⁵ And they went after them as far as the Jordan; and, lo, all the road was full of garments and vessels which the Arameans had left behind in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.¹⁶ And the people went out and plundered the camp of Aram. 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 placed his aide in charge of the gate; and the people trod upon him at the gate and he died, as the prophet of God had said when he came down as a messenger to him.¹⁸ And it came to pass as the prophet of God had foretold to the king, saying, A measure of fine flour for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel shall be sold tomorrow at this time in the gate of Samaria.¹⁹ But that mighty man had answered the prophet of God and said, If the LORD should make windows in heaven, could this thing be? And the prophet had said, Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.²⁰ And so it happened to him; for the people trod upon him in the gate and he died.