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¹ Eliseus sayde: Heare the worde of the LORDE. Thus sayeth the LORDE: Tomorow aboute this tyme shal a bu?shel of fyne meel be solde for one Sycle, and two bu?shels of barly for one Sycle vnder the porte of Samaria.² Then a knyghte (vpon whose hande the kynge leaned) answered the ma of God, and sayde: And though the LORDE made wyndowes in heaue, how coulde soch a thinge come to passe? He saide: Beholde, thou shalt se it with thine eyes, & shalt not eate therof.

³ And there were foure leporous men at ye dore before the porte, and one sayde vnto another: Why tary we here whyle we dye?⁴ Though we thoughte to come into the cite, yet is there derth in ye cite, and there shulde we be fayne to dye. And yf we tary here, we must dye also. Let vs go now, and flye vnto the hoost of the Syrians. Yf they let vs lyue, we shall lyue: yf they slaye vs, then are we deed.⁵ And so they gat them vp early, to come vnto the hoost of the Syrians. And whan they came to the vttemost ende of ye tentes, beholde, there was no body.⁶ For the LORDE had made the Syrians to heare a noyse of horses, charettes, and of a mightie greate hoost, so that they sayde one to another amonge the selues: Beholde, the kynge of Israel hath hyred the kynge of the Hethites, and the kynge of the Egipcians agaynst vs, to come vpo vs.⁷ And they gat them vp, and fled early in the twylight, and lefte their bothes, and horses and Asses in the tentes as they stode, & fled euery man where he mighte saue his life.⁸ Now whan the lepers came to the place of the tentes, they wente in to the tentes, ate and dronke, and toke syluer, golde and rayment, and wente and hyd it: & came agayne & entred in to another tent, and toke therout, and wente and hyd it.⁹ But one of them saide vnto another: Let vs not do thus, this daye is a daye of good tidynges. Yf we kepe this secrete and byde tyll the lighte mornynge, oure trespace wyl be founde out. Let vs go now therfore, that we maye come, & tell the kynges house.¹⁰ And whan they came, they cried at the porte of the cite, and tolde them, and sayde: We came to the tentes of the Sirians, and beholde, there is no ma there, nether yet eny mans voyce, but horses and asses bounde, and the bothes as they stonde.¹¹ Then cried ye porters and tolde it within in ye kynges house.

¹² And the kynge arose in the nighte, & sayde vnto his seruauntes: I will tell you how ye Syrians deale with vs: they knowe yt we suffer honger, and are gone out of the tetes, to hyde them selues in the felde, and thynke thus: whan they go out of the cite, we wyll take them alyue, & come in to the cite.¹³ Then answered one of his seruauntes, and sayde: Let vs take the fyue horses that remayne, which yet are lefte in the cite (beholde, these are left therin for all ye multitude in Israel, which is destroyed) let vs sende these and se.¹⁴ The toke they two charettes with ye horses. And the kynge sent them vnto the tentes of the Syrians, and sayde: Go youre waye and se.¹⁵ And whan they wente after the vnto Iordane, beholde, the waye laye full of garmentes and vessels, which the Syrians had cast from the, whyle they made haist. And whan the messaungers came agayne, and tolde the kynge,¹⁶ the people wente forth, and spoyled the tentes of the Syrians. And a bu?shel of fyne meell was solde for a Sycle, and two bu?shels of barlye for a Sycle also, acordinge to the worde of the LORDE.¹⁷ But the kynge appoynted the knyghte (vpon whose hande he leened) to be at the gate, & the people trode vpon him, so that he dyed, euen as the man of God sayde, whan the kynge came downe vnto him.¹⁸ And it came to passe euen as ye man of God tolde the kynge, wha he sayde: Tomorow aboute this tyme shall two bu?shels of barlye be solde for one Sycle, and a bu?shel fyne meel for one Sycle vnder the gate at Samaria.¹⁹ And the knyghte answered the man of God, and sayde: Beholde, though ye LORDE made wyndowes in heauen, how coulde soch a thinge come to passe? Neuertheles he sayde: Beholde, with thine eyes shalt thou se it, and shalt not eate therof.²⁰ And euen so fortuned it vnto him, for the people trode vpon him in the gate, yt he dyed.