CHAPTER 7
1 Forsooth Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord; the Lord saith these things, In this time tomorrow, a bushel of [tried] flour shall be sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, in the gate of Samaria.
2 And one of the dukes, on whose hand the king leaned, answered to the man of God, and said, Though the Lord make also the gutters of heaven to be opened, whether that, that thou speakest, may be? And Elisha said, Thou shalt see it with thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof.
3 Therefore four leprous men were beside the entering of the city’s gate, which said together, What will we be here, till we die?
4 Whether we will enter into the city, we shall die for hunger; whether we dwell here, we shall die. Therefore come ye, and flee we over to the tents of Syria; if they shall spare us, we shall live; soothly if they will slay us, nevertheless we shall die.
5 Then they rose up in the even-tide, to come to the tents of Syria; and when they had come to the beginning of the tents of Syria, they found not any man there.
6 Forsooth the Lord had made a sound of chariots, and of horses, and of a full much host to be heard in the tents of Syria; and they said together, Lo! the king of Israel hath hired by meed against us the kings of Hittites, and of Egyptians; and they came suddenly upon us.
7 Therefore they rose up, and fled in darkness, and left their tents, and their horses, and mules, and asses, in the castles [or with the tents]; and they fled, coveting to save their lives only.
8 Therefore when those leprous men had come to the beginning of the castles, or tents, they entered into one tabernacle, and ate, and drank; and they took from thence silver, and gold, and clothes; and went, and hid it; and again they turned again to another tabernacle, and in like manner they took away from thence, and hid.
9 And they said together, We do not rightfully, for this is a day of good message; if we hold it still, and do not tell till the morrowtide, we shall be reproved of trespassing; come ye, go we, and tell it in the king’s hall.
10 And when they had come to the gate of the city, they told to them, and said, We went to the castles [or tents] of Syria, and we found not any man there, but horses and asses tied up, and [the] tents fastened in place.
11 And so the porters went, and told these things in the palace of the king within.
12 And the king rose up by night, and said to his servants, I say to you, what the men of Syria have done to us; they know, that we travail with hunger, therefore they have gone out of the castles [or tents], and be hid in the fields, and say, When they shall go out of the city, we shall take them quick, and then we shall be able to enter into the city.
13 And one of his servants answered, Take we [the] five horses, that [be] left in the city; for those [or they] be left only in all the multitude of Israel, for [the] other horses be wasted; and we sending may espy.
14 Therefore they brought forth two horses; and the king sent men upon them into the tents of the men of Syria, and said, Go ye, and see.
15 The which went after them unto the Jordan; lo! forsooth all the way was full of clothes, and of vessels, which the men of Syria casted forth, when they were troubled. And the messengers turned again, and showed it to the king.
16 And the people went out, and ravished the castles [or tents] of Syria; and a bushel of tried flour was made sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, by the word of the Lord.
17 Forsooth the king ordained at the gate that duke, in whose hand the king leaned; whom the company trode with their feet, and he was dead, by the word, which the man of God spake, when the king came down to him.
18 And it was done by the word of the man of God, that he [had] said to the king, when he said, Two bushels of barley shall be sold for a stater, and a bushel of tried wheat flour for a stater, in this same time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria;
19 when that duke answered to the man of God, and said, Yea, though the Lord shall make the gutters in heaven to be opened, whether this that thou speakest may be? and the man of God said, Thou shalt see it with thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof.
20 Therefore it befelled to him, as it was before-said; and the people trode him with their feet in the gate, and he was dead.