1And Elisha said, “Hear the word of יהוה. Thus said יהוה, ‘About this time tomorrow a seah of fine flour for a sheqel, and two seahs of barley for a sheqel, at the gate of Shomeron.’ ”

2And an officer on whose hand the sovereign leaned answered the man of Elohim and said, “Look, if יהוה is making windows in the heavens, shall this word come true?” And he said, “Look, you are about to see it with your eyes, but not eat of it.”

3And there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. And they said to each other, “Why are we sitting here until we are dead?

4“If we shall say, ‘Let us go into the city,’ the scarcity of food is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we shall die. And now, come, let us surrender to the army of the Arameans. If they keep us alive, we live. And if they kill us, we shall die.”

5So at twilight they rose up to go to the camp of the Arameans. And when they had come to the outskirts of the Aramean camp, look, no one was there.

6For יהוה had caused the army of the Arameans to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses, the noise of a great army, and they said to each other, “Look, the sovereign of Yisra’ĕl has hired against us the sovereigns of the Ḥittites and the sovereigns of the Mitsrians to come against us!”

7So they rose up and fled at twilight, and left the camp as it is – their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys – and they fled for their lives.

8And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and took from there silver and gold and garments, and went and hid them. And they came back and went into another tent, and took from there and went and hid it.

9Then they said to each other, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent. And if we wait until morning light, then evil shall come upon us. And now, come, let us go and inform the house of the sovereign.”

10And they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and informed them, saying, “We went to the camp of Aram, and look, there is not a man or a voice of man, only horses tied and donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.”

11And the gatekeepers called, and they informed the house of the sovereign inside.

12So the sovereign rose up in the night and said to his servants, “Let me now inform you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are starving, so 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 enter into the city.’ ”

13And one of his servants answered and said, “Please, let some take five of the horses that are left in the city. Look, they are like the entire crowd of Yisra’ĕl that are left in it, look, they are like the entire crowd of Yisra’ĕl left from those who are consumed. So let us send and see.”

14They then took two chariots with horses. And the sovereign sent them in the direction of the camp of Aram, saying, “Go and see.”

15And they went after them to the Yardĕn. And look, all the way was littered with garments and weapons which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. And the messengers returned and reported to the sovereign.

16Then the people went out and plundered the camp of Aram. So a seah of fine flour was for a sheqel, and two seahs of barley for a sheqel, according to the word of יהוה.

17And the sovereign had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, as the man of Elohim had said, who spoke when the sovereign came down to him.

18And it came to be, as the man of Elohim had spoken to the sovereign, saying, “Two seahs of barley for a sheqel, and a seah of fine flour for a sheqel, at this time tomorrow in the gate of Shomeron,”

19that officer answered the man of Elohim, and said, “Now look, if יהוה is making windows in the heavens, is it according to this word?” And he had said, “Look, you are about to see it with your eyes, but not eat of it.”

20And so it came to be for him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.