2 Kings 6:24–7:8

24 *And it came to pass after this, that oBen-hadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. 25 And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. 26 And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. 27 And he said, ||If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the pbarnfloor, or out of the winepress? 28 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. 29 So qwe boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the †next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son. 30 And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rrent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had rsackcloth within upon his flesh. 31 Then he said, sGod do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.

32 But Elisha sat in his house, and tthe elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of ua murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: xis not the sound of his master’s feet behind him? 33 And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the Lord; ywhat should I wait for the Lord any longer?

7 *Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord, aTo morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. 2 Then b†a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, cif the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

3 And there were four leprous men dat the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? 4 If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. 5 And they rose up in ethe twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. 6 For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians fto hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us gthe kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. 7 hWherefore they arose and fled in ethe twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp ias it was, and fled for their life. 8 And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it.