Deliverance Foretold and Fulfilled
1Elisha said, “Hear the word of Yahweh. This is what Yahweh says: About this time tomorrow, a measure of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.” 2The officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if Yahweh made windows in the sky, could this happen?” 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 sit here until we die? 4If we say, ‘Let’s go into the city,’ the famine is there, and we will die there. And if we stay here, we will also die. So come, let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we live; if they kill us, then we die.” 5So at twilight they got up and went toward the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, there was no one there. 6For the Lord had made the Aramean army hear the sound of chariots and horses, the sound of a great army, and they said to one another, “Listen! The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to attack us!” 7So they had gotten up and fled at twilight, abandoning their tents, their horses, their donkeys, and the camp just as it was, running for their lives. 8When the men with leprosy reached the edge of the camp, they went into one tent, ate and drank, and carried off silver, gold, and clothing, then went and hid it. They came back, went into another tent, carried off things from it too, and went and hid them. 9Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent. If we wait until morning light, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go now and report this to the king’s household.” 10So they went and called out to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, “We went to the camp of the Arameans, and there was no one there — not a sound of anyone — only the horses and donkeys tied up, and the tents left just as they were.” 11The gatekeepers called out, and the news was reported inside the king’s palace. 12The king got up in the night and said to his officers, “Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving, so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will take them alive and get into the city.’” 13One of his officers said, “Let some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their fate can be no worse than that of all the Israelites left here — they are as doomed as all the Israelites who have already perished. Let’s send them to see.” 14So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and see.” 15They followed them all the way to the Jordan, and the whole road was littered with clothing and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. The messengers returned and reported this to the king. 16Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans, and a measure of fine flour sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, just as Yahweh had said. 17Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him there in the gateway, and he died — just as the man of God had said when the king came down to him. 18It happened exactly as the man of God had told the king: “Two measures of barley will sell for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, at this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.” 19The officer had answered the man of God, “Look, even if Yahweh made windows in the sky, 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 gateway, and he died.
