1Then Elisha said, "Listen to the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: Tomorrow about this time, in the gate of Samaria, a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel."
2Then the officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD made windows in heaven, could such a thing happen?" And Elisha said, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it."
3Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the gate. They said to one another, "Why should we sit here until we die?"
4"If we say, 'We will go into the city,' there is famine in the city, and we will die there. And if we sit still here, we die too. So come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they let us live, we live. If they kill us, we only die."
5So they got up in the twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. When they came to the edge of the camp of Syria, no one was there.
6For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses, the noise of a great army. They said to one another, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come against us."
7So they got up and fled in the twilight. They left their tents, their horses and their donkeys, and left the camp just as it was, and they fled for their lives.
8When these men with leprosy came to the edge of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank. They carried away silver and gold and clothing from it, and went and hid it. Then they came back and went into another tent, and carried things from that one too, and went and hid it.
9Then they said to one another, "We are not doing right. Today is a day of good news, and we are keeping quiet. If we wait until morning light, punishment will come upon us. So come, let us go and tell the king's household."
10So they came and called to the gatekeeper of the city. They told them, "We went to the camp of the Syrians, and no one was there, not a sound of anyone. There were only the horses tied up, and the donkeys tied up, and the tents just as they were."
11He called the other gatekeepers, and they passed the news to the king's household inside.
12The king got up in the night and said to his servants, "I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are hungry, so they have gone out of the camp to hide in the field. They are saying, 'When they come out of the city, we will take them alive and get into the city.'"
13One of his servants answered, "Please let some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Look, they are like all the crowd of Israel that is left here; they are like all the crowd of the Israelites who have already perished. Let us send them and see."
14So they took two chariot horses, and the king sent them after the army of the Syrians, saying, "Go and see."
15They went after them as far as the Jordan, and the whole road was full of clothes and equipment that the Syrians had thrown away in their hurry. The messengers came back and told the king.
16Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, just as the LORD had said.
17The king put the officer on whose hand he leaned in charge of the gate. The people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said when the king came down to him.
18It happened as the man of God had said to the king: "Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria."
19That officer had answered the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD made windows in heaven, could such a thing happen?" And Elisha had said, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it."
20And that is exactly what happened to him. The people trampled him in the gate, and he died.